Insurance change?

[yoflow]

I now have BC/BS insurance. They no longer provide a new machine after five years unless the old one is no longer working. My machine is in to Res Med now to be checked out. I am interested in possibly changing to United Health Care. The issues is that Res Med is backed up and so I won't know if they can refurbish my machine before the change date for a change of insurance. If I switch before I know about my current machine I am concerned that a new insurance won't provide me with a new ASV machine, if I need it. I have central sleep apnea, so need an expensive one. Any thoughts?

[Okie bipap]

That is a question for your insurance company. I purchased a lightly used machine with less than 110 hours on it from an individual that had recently changed insurance companies. His old insurance company told him to keep the machine even though he had used it for less than two weeks, and his new insurance company purchased him a new machine. If I had been him, I would have kept one as a back up. However, he chose to sell it, and I got a very good deal on a back up machine for me. I already had one for my wife, so now we have two spare machines in the house.

[Janknitz]

It MIGHT be that since the new insurer hasn't paid for a machine for you, they may get you a new machine. BUT, they may make you jump through hoops like a new sleep study and compliance check. AND, if it's a Medicare HMO, you might be on the hook for perpetual rental. So you'll want to know all those things before you make a decision.

[chunkyfrog]

My colleagues and I have had nothing but bad experiences from United Health Care.
We demanded our union push the county to get rid of them.
I have heard very little good. (The premiums. Period.)
They push Medicare Advantage plans quite aggressively.
That is OK if you are poor but healthy--two things that often do not occur together.

[Pinhead]

I now have BC/BS insurance. They no longer provide a new machine after five years unless the old one is no longer working. My machine is in to Res Med now to be checked out. I am interested in possibly changing to United Health Care. The issues is that Res Med is backed up and so I won't know if they can refurbish my machine before the change date for a change of insurance. If I switch before I know about my current machine I am concerned that a new insurance won't provide me with a new ASV machine, if I need it. I have central sleep apnea, so need an expensive one. Any thoughts?

I have Florida Blue for insurance and just went through the same thing. I was told the same thing, I called care centrix which handles my cpap things for BC/BS they called my Dr. directly and gave the Dr. the correct wording for a new machine, order was filled by Aprira. Check your ins carefully and time your purchased accordingly. My deductible is 700. for Medical devises, So I will have to cover the monthly rentals for this year and Then start all over in January with a new deductible. Using my insurance I will pay more then I could have purchased a new machine from Cpap.com, and saved hassal and the cost of two Dr. Appts.

Or better still look for a used one.

[Brattygirl69]

If you change ins and your current machine is not completely paid for(rental plan) they will make you pay 12 more payments. It happened to me. I owed 2 more payments when I got new ins and I had to pay 14 mire total. Thanks medicare

[StormyToo]

Deleted.

[yoflow]

Thank you all for the helpful information, especially about the company which was so bad.

[Chris8243]

If you change ins and your current machine is not completely paid for(rental plan) they will make you pay 12 more payments. It happened to me. I owed 2 more payments when I got new ins and I had to pay 14 mire total. Thanks medicare

The same EXACT thing happened to me. I called the owner of the DME and asked about them overcharging me. The machine costs a certain amount for them to buy from their supplier. Now I was being charged more because my insurance changed. They were stealing from me because I had already been making payments on it. He said basically, yes, that's the way insurance does it. Told him because I thought it was unethical of his company to charge people more than they actually owe, I would no longer buy supplies or do any business with them. Did he care? No.

Then I called the insurance company. Told them THEY were being ripped off by the DME overcharging me for equpiment I had already been making payments on and now they were also being charged the full amount of the machine again. I wouldn't say they didn't care, but they told me yes, that's how it's set up. You'd think they'd fight it.

Kicker is that I didn't change my insurance. BCBS changes the individual's policy number every January if you are buying it privately (not through employer.) So same deductible, same everything, I made no changes but because they changed my number it is treated as a brand new policy with everything starting from scratch. Hello? Don't you care that YOU'VE already paid for part of my machine? No, "that's the way it is." Couldn't believe they didn't want to save money and call out the DME on this.

Rant over.

[Brattygirl69]

Dont blame you for rantingI did the same