How does manufacturer pricing affect you?

[NightHawkeye]

Just curious ...

[Wulfman]

I couldn't find a category to vote for. I suppose the first option would be the closest.....or maybe even option three. Other than the original purchase, of which my insurance reimbursed me 80%, all of my other items have been purchased out-of-pocket. So, for the last two years, I've been stocking up on spare EVERYTHING with the fear that something like this was coming. I just haven't been able to "warm up" to the looks of the M Series machines......so I'm stocked up in Legacy ("Tank") machines and parts......and masks, filters, hoses, etc., etc. If they keep treating me as well in the future as they have been for the last three years, I would have no reason to switch......but I probably would not buy another NEW product from any of the manufacturers you have listed.

They've done the wrong things for the wrong reasons.

Den

[blarg]

I also couldn't find a good option to vote for in the poll.

Money does matter to me. My insurance isn't _that_ good. Like Den, everything I've bought after the original setup with machine and hunk-a-junk mask has been out of pocket.

I must say though, that I have always, and will always buy the best value product I can. So if a particular machine costs more than another but offers better treatment, or better monitoring or whatever, then that's the one I'll be inclined to go for.

I won't do this willy nilly though, and I won't spend rediculous amounts of money. The machine I currently have I got used off of Yahoo Auctions with 10 whole hours of use on it for 800 bucks including humidifier.

So, option 3 fits me better than option 1. I'll vote for 3.

[WNJ]

I voted 1.

I will do everything possible to avoid these company’s products in the future.

I have very good insurance, but my copay for DME is 30percent. My insurance has been pretty good at reimbursing me for mail order, though I don’t usually bother to file claims for supplies. I could afford CPAP even without insurance.

For me, the boycott is not so much a matter of money, but rather my desire to avoid companies that use heavy-handed tactics to inhibit competition. (I also do everything possible to avoid giving MicroSoft any of my money.)

My greatest personal barrier to a complete boycott is the mask. So far I have found nothing that works nearly so well as the ResMed Ultra Mirage Full Face. I have two of those and I may have little choice but to buy new seals for them periodically for a while. I need to come up with an alternative.

Wayne

[NightHawkeye]

bump ...

[Lots of Questions]

Well I did not know anything about MAP prices until a few days ago. My insurance won't pay for anything new for several months. The local DME is way too expensive without insurance, so that leaves me with buying my own stuff from the web.

Apparently ResMed went to MAP some time ago. That's sort of interesting, because I went back and looked at masks I had been interested in, and I had rejected all of ResMed's masks because of the price.

So in their efforts to protect DME's, I wonder if these companies aren't really just shooting themselves in the foot. I had already cut out ResMed without knowing about MAP, so it wasn't in retaliation.

With the prices going up with the other two companies, I will continue to look only at the masks I can afford, which will be 1) only online, and 2) not any of the big three.

Even with the "ask us for the price" policy, I'm unlikely to do that unless there really just are no other masks I could use. It's just too much trouble.

I'm thinking one of these minor players will figure this all out. What they will do is start selling more equipment with reasonable features and excellent prices, and they'll knock off one of the Big Three. Let's hope so. That will spell the end of MAP and force the Big Three to return to reasonable prices.

The biggest fools in all of this stuff are the insurance companies. Why haven't they been allowing patients to get supplies off of the Internet all along, saving everyone a bunch of money?

Cheers!

[Goofproof]

I also had to vote 3, but it wasn't really good for me.

A manufacture that thinks they can bully their way into more unsupported profits, have made me a enemy, and I vote with my billfold. Jim

[Snoredog]

I didn't see the multiple guess answer:

screw those 3, I'll buy Somnotech, PB and DeVilbiss

[lvwildcat]

Dang...I can't totally boycott them. My DREAM mask is the F/P Oracle...
and to me my sleep with my dream mask is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NightHawkeye]

bump

[norm]

My inclination is to avoid resmed and respironics. On the other hand, this is capitalism and companies are not in this business to do good but to do well. Still, it irks me and the MAP restrictions are capitalism at its worst.

But so far, on CPAP.com, I haven't noticed a change in price on resmed and respirnoic machines. Is my memory of what prices were last month wrong? Or maybe the new policy only applies to new stock, but not machines already in inventory.

[Fredman]

Just curious ...

I voted that my Insurance is great...but actually they only pay to a max of $2,500 Canadian for the whole setup. So for that price I have to have the hose, machine, mask and humidifier.

Wouldn't you know it my cost was right on 2,500. I think the prices are grossly inflated in Canada because on-line stores in US and Canada are way cheaper than the brick and mortar stores.

[Bookbear]

I didn't use any of the choices, either. Price IS important, but I would also consider the suggestions of other users. I would pay more for a machine that praised by users for its durability and effectiveness over a cheaper machine that was indicated by users as being poor quality or trouble prone.

I know that money is tight for many folks, and that insurance policies don't often cover all expenses; but the cheapest item is a false economy if it doesn't do the job and isn't durable.

[NightHawkeye]

I couldn't find a category to vote for.

I also couldn't find a good option to vote for in the poll.

My greatest personal barrier to a complete boycott is ...

I also had to vote 3, but it wasn't really good for me.

I didn't see the multiple guess answer ...

Dang...I can't totally boycott them ...

My inclination is to avoid resmed and respironics.

I voted that my Insurance is great...but actually ...

I didn't use any of the choices, either.

OK. Because so many folks had trouble with the choices in the poll, I assume that the questions were poorly constructed. Sorry about that.

I tried to make the poll entertaining, while capturing the essence of the major choices we are now faced with. Perhaps I missed the mark ... Or, I'm also wondering, if these pricing policies have such an important impact that we really want additional choices which simply don't exist.

Thoughts please ...

Regards,
Bill

[WNJ]

. . . but the cheapest item is a false economy if it doesn't do the job and isn't durable.

Bookbear -- In the years I’ve been reading this forum, I’ve seen nothing to suggest that the “cheaper” brands offer lower quality than Respironics, ResMed, or F&P. If not for the anti-competitive minimum pricing policies, these brands would also be selling at the “cheap” prices.

I suspect that the greater market share that these brands hold today is the result of more effective marketing in the past.

Bill -- Not that much wrong with the poll. I think the answers simply reveal that the response each of us is likely to bring to this MAP policy include subtleties that are impossible to anticipate.

Wayne