Hi! Im new..and have questions!

[Chongo]

Hi there!

Like the title says, im new and have questions which im sure have been asked a 1oox before hand so I apologize a head of time! I've read all new member topics and theres ALOT of good info, just having a hard time comprehending it all, so I wanted to ask you a few questions to all you CPAP veterans.

these last few months have been a nightmare dealing with insurance companies,dr.s,sleeps studies,dme's etc. to finally get and approval for a cpap machine, so I want to make sure I handle this right before I get a machine. the amount of machines,styles,data tracking,brands etc is overwhelming...

my insurance is cigna, they sent my prescription to the dme "Apria" I believe to get the cpap machine. my insurance isn't the greatest, so ill be paying most of it out of pocket unfortunately , which there saying is 855$. but my question is , with these insurance companies and dme's do I have a say in picking the style/brand of machine and mask etc? and are the machines in these insurance situations poor quality/ piece of junks that im over paying for?

I guess ultimately im looking for your guys is input on the best way about handling these dme's and whats the best steps for a newbie to handle all this and make the best decisions

Thanks!

[Tatooed Lady]

check cpap.com, you'll see that two of the top rated machine brands in the APAP lineup are roughly $850...the one on my signature line is one of them, the other is the s9/s10 by Resmed. Not saying there aren't other fine machines, just that these two brands are the most commonly commented on around here. Make sure if you're getting a machine for "standard" OSA, you get one that is FULLY DATA CAPABLE. You want to have it record a ton of information that you can eventually figure out...not just AHI, hours of therapy and pressure.

[grayghost4]

it might be helpful to read through this thread from yesterday , might answer some questions for you

viewtopic/t102036/New-to-CPAP-and-forum ... users.html

[englandsf]

You'll face the choice of insurance/deductible through a DME charging full (or more) price versus no insurance coverage via a lower price mail order supplier.

Make sure you consider a data capable preferably auto pap machine, humidifier, hose and mask purchase a replacements on a cycle. (what did the $855 include BTW?)

Then it's just math.

[Julie]

http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com - it's (mostly) all there.

[Chongo]

Thanks a lot for the info, appreciate it. Hopefully can finally get back on track get some sleep and improve quality of life... Tired of walking around like a zombie

[Chongo]

after much struggle with all three heads of the snake, DME-Cigna- md, had to convince the dr.s office to physically write the name of the cpap machine I wanted, from witch ive been reading on this forum is the S9 Autoset iD# 36005. It was disappointing the amount of hoop jumping I had to do to get to this point in progress, especially when im the one paying for it! every thing that people on this forum was true, Dme just wants to give you a generic no name low grade machine and tell me that the insurance doesn't cover the good machines etc.ur health system can be rather disappointing at times..