How is Obama Care going to impact CPAP?

[rkuntz123]

Does the 30% Medical Devices Tax apply to our machines and accessories?

Does the 30% Medical Devices Tax apply to the Equipment the Sleep Labs use?

How readily available will Labs be? Are the private Labs and Clinics going to be shut down in favor of a more limited number of "Approved" Hospital based facilities?

What will the waiting lists be like?

Will CPAP continue to be covered if it can not be demonstrated that it extends life?

Will patient CPAP equipment choices be restricted to specific machines based on the patient's DX.

[deerhound]

Does the 30% Medical Devices Tax apply to our machines and accessories?

Does the 30% Medical Devices Tax apply to the Equipment the Sleep Labs use?

How readily available will Labs be? Are the private Labs and Clinics going to be shut down in favor of a more limited number of "Approved" Hospital based facilities?

What will the waiting lists be like?

Will CPAP continue to be covered if it can not be demonstrated that it extends life?

Will patient CPAP equipment choices be restricted to specific machines based on the patient's DX.

Yes.
Yes.
Obamadon'tcare will make everything worse and more expensive. The Lyin' King has said everything will be cheaper and better. Has he ever been truthful?

[Julie]

Nothing like being considered innocent unTIL proven guilty is there?

[deerhound]

Nothing like being considered innocent unTIL proven guilty is there?

You are right. I must retract some of my statement. Obama did promise higher energy costs and that promise he has kept!

[JDS74]

Does the 30% Medical Devices Tax apply to our machines and accessories?.

Yes unless Congress changes the law - unlikely.

Does the 30% Medical Devices Tax apply to the Equipment the Sleep Labs use?.

Yes unless Congress changes the law - unlikely.

How readily available will Labs be? Are the private Labs and Clinics going to be shut down in favor of a more limited number of "Approved" Hospital based facilities?.

Opinion here - The pressure will be on to force home studies before moving to an "Approved" facility.

What will the waiting lists be like?.

In other countries waiting list vary from not too long to really long - years depending on the cost of the procedure, etc.

Will CPAP continue to be covered if it can not be demonstrated that it extends life?.

Opinion here - Quality and length of life will factor in and newly diagnosed over some age will either not be covered or will be delayed in coverage.

Will patient CPAP equipment choices be restricted to specific machines based on the patient's DX.

Opinion here - This is likely - cheaper will be preferred over "better" or more costly.
Out-of-Pocket will likely be the way of acquiring more advanced and/or data capable machines.

It's going to be an interesting ride.

[chunkyfrog]

FYI: from the horse's mouth:
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Medical-Device-E ... -Questions
2.3% is NOT 30%!
also, you need to read about the retail exemption.

[purple]

I just got a call from my DME suggesting that I could pay my bill, that I have owed for quite a few months by either credit card or debit card. Hmm.

My first thought is that my income was below even the Federal Poverty line three years ago. My income has been reduced each year by an insufficient Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). My income is further reduced by increasing Premiums, Deductibles, Co-Pays.

The question is do I blame the Republicans, who have pushed for these changes, or President Obama for negotiating his supposedly liberal posture away to agree to them. Of course I am wrong. Obama says he will agree to more reductions in Entitlement programs for an increase in taxes against the rich.

Keynesian Economic Theory would say that in a Recession not to raise taxes, or reduce government spending (at the very least). We have done a bit of both, and we seem to be surprised that the US Economy is still awful. (Well except for the "Quantitative Easing" which is a stimulus of (if my memory is working this morning) of 85 Billion pumped into the economy each month.)

To the OP, the past is still our future. We have been pushed into the choice of not seeking healthcare/treatment because we can not afford it, and in my case, my diet is cheap food, which makes my health worse. And both parties promise to make the situation of those on Social Security worse.

The past is our future. and we can blame both Obama, and the Republicans. but I can not tell you how we can fix the economy at all.

[Mgsnorer]

FYI: from the horse's mouth:
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Medical-Device-E ... -Questions
2.3% is NOT 30%!
also, you need to read about the retail exemption.

Thank you, ChunkyFrog!!

[chunkyfrog]

Some of the device manufacturers/importers are complaining that the tax will increase their tax burden by 30%.
Somebody misread that the tax would be 30%--WRONG; however if 2.3% tax is ONLY 30% of what they've been paying,
somebody has a long way to go to pay their fair share!
The retail exemption would exempt anything bought by the end consumer, wheelchairs, glasses, hearing aids, and cpap supplies.
The tax would be on MRI machines, pacemakers, lens implants, artificial joints, and maybe breast implants--but still 2.3%.

[JDS74]

Sorry I didn't notice the error in the tx rate specified.

Bear in mind that the 2.3% rate noted applies to the manufacturer and not to the retailer.
So, also bear in mind that the difference between the manufacturer's cost and the retailer's price is generally a factor of about 5 depending on the industry.

If that ratio still applies in the DME arena, then the effect on the consumer price will be about 11% at retail not 2.3% as each layer in the supply chain adds their costs in as a percentage of the costs they have to pay for the item.

Edit: Given the comment about manufacturers not paying their fair share.
Manufacturers don't pay taxes. They do collect taxes from the end consumer by raising their prices to cover the tax cost. They don't and can't eat the tax increase because sooner or later their total cost will exceed their gross revenue and the business will fail. That's why 75% of new jobs created recently are part time and exempt from the employer mandate for The Affordable Care Act.

[chunkyfrog]

Since DME is RETAIL, it's not an issue.
As for devices used or installed in the hospital, we already know the price structure in this country is totally out of line.
For people paying out of pocket, the difference is enough to make medical tourism a big industry.
In this case, another country will collect (and KEEP) the taxes.

[LinkC]

Has anything taken over by the government EVER become more "affordable"? The very name is a cruel hoax.

That's why I'm replacing my current machine with a new one NOW... before pricing, availability and insurance get crazy. Hopefully, the two of them will last the rest of my life.

[Goofproof]

Nothing like being considered innocent unTIL proven guilty is there?

You are right. I must retract some of my statement. Obama did promise higher energy costs and that promise he has kept!

And when he gets his way shutting down the coal industry, and coal fired powerplants, we will see shortages and skyrocketing energy costs. The government may have to switch over to steam powered printing presses to keep printing worthless money to give the illusion of prosperity.

FACT: If you print paper money $$$ without goods or services behind it, you are bankrupt!

If you don't stop spending and pay off your debt, you make everyone that holds your $$$, worth less (inflation) At some time they will figure it out!

Our government is cooking the books, the inflation rate is really much worse than their cooked books show. Printing more money, reduces the value of every $$$ you own. Plan on retiring, How the money you are setting back will be worthless.

I was taught to save and live within my means. Today those ideals don't work, to get the best vaule out of your working dollars you must spend them, before they become worth even less. Jim

[PST]

The 2.3 percent medical device tax has been in effect since the beginning of this year.

[hegel]

Chunkyfrog, facts don't matter to the haters, who simply make things up in order to stoke their own outrage. Here's an idea: give Obamacare a year to play out, and see where we are then. Admittedly, it's going to take longer than that to work out all of the kinks. Moreover, there are going to be mistakes and mis-steps; after all, this is a huge and new enterprise. Wouldn't it be inspiring if for once people worked together to try to make a success out of this program, rather than having a minority try to undermine it at every turn? Remember, it was a Republican who coined the phrase, "elections matter".