Did Apria inflate the cost of my machine/mask?

[Slinky]

The House, the Senate, Bush Baby, Cheney and Rummy SHOULD have been in the very first lead battalion into Iraq is what I think!!!

And none of them should be allowed to come home from Iraq until they've settled the area down and established a working peace for the citizens of Iraq.

[Patrick A]

The House, the Senate, Bush Baby, Cheney and Rummy SHOULD have been in the very first lead battalion into Iraq is what I think!!!

And none of them should be allowed to come home from Iraq until they've settled the area down and established a working peace for the citizens of Iraq.

They need to Nuke the area from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.


Oh yes and take APRIA RIP OFF with them and Bush baby and Cheney too

[Slinky]

But Patrick!!!! What about the O-I-L ??? We don't wanna nuke all that oil in that region!!

[Patrick A]

Just annex Mexico, before they take over the United States and take all of their oil and quit exporting ours to Japan.

[debstieb]

OK....I guess I will give Apria a break.

Damn, I was kinda hoping that I would get a new machine out of this.......Maybe one with data.....



Thanks,

Deb

[Guest]

debstieb,

Just wanted to let you know my machine (same as yours) had 0.0hours (zero) hours on it when handed to me by my DME. This is called a new machine. A machine that does not have a 0.0 on it is NOT new. I don't know what you call it then (test driven, checked out, spec'ed, demonstrated, lightly used, etc.) but it is NOT new in my opinion.

A machine w/ 1000 hours on it, sold like any other piece of used electronics should have 10% - 50% of the original value (* not what used sales between two folks may bring, but how someone with a pile of used machines amongst other used piles of machines would rate them[a wholesaler]).

You paid for your machine ... overpaid ... so did your insurance ... so did almost all of us!!!

Your insurance company should sue your DME for fraud for providing a machine with that many hours on it and charging for a new machine.

My machine and mask from Sleepmed:
1) $1900 - Charged from Sleepmed to my insurance
2) $1400 - "Allowable" paid to Sleepmed from my insurance

3) $635 - SLEEPMEDONLINE - $494 (machine+humidifier) + $140? (mask, hose, filters - my Swift not available here so, say same $140)
YES, you read it correctly, the same company that charged my insurance $1900 and accepted $1400, also sells for $765 cheaper online.
4) $510.00 - best online pricing I could find = $370 (machine+humidifier) + $140 (mask, hose, filters)


SO I ASK YOU, PATRIOTS - WHICH IS THE BETTER DEAL FOR OUR COUNTRY?
You, Me, everybody! ... EVERYBODY! (start song from Blues Brothers ... )

I don't care what my copay is, look at the big picture people!!
#1 and #2 are WAY outta line with #3 and #4!!!

The system is outta whack!

[Coastal_ZZs]

Dang ... self, remember to sign in ...

[DreamStalker]

The system is outta whack!

That's what happens when you have a healthcare system based on profit.

IMO, government should provide 3 basic national services to its citizens 1) military defense, 2) healthcare, and 3) education. If a country has a protected, healthy, and well educated population, it can then take care of everything else that may come its way at the local and personal levels.

I know this will solicit debate but it's not my fault if you don't agree with my opinion.

[roster]

The system is outta whack!

That's what happens when you have a healthcare system based on profit.

IMO, government should provide 3 basic national services to its citizens 1) military defense, 2) healthcare, and 3) education. If a country has a protected, healthy, and well educated population, it can then take care of everything else that may come its way at the local and personal levels.

I know this will solicit debate but it's not my fault if you don't agree with my opinion.

There are a few basic problems with the state of health care in the U.S. today. To start with, health care is no different from other desirable goods and services in that there is scarcity. Our demands are higher than the supply. This begets choice and rationing.

In our society most goods and services are rationed by price. If you can pay the price you get the goods. This is true of even something as basic as food. High and low income neighborhoods have different types of grocery stores stocking different items.

Our history of health care was that our employers provided health insurance that they paid for - we thought it was free. So when we needed a doctor, a test, a procedure or a drug we just received the benefit. We did not think about the cost since we were not paying it (we thought).

Supply and demand come together in the market. Demand came to the market and was not thinking rationally. Demand acted as if there was no scarcity, no choices to be paid and demand thought the benefits were costing nothing. Demand felt entitled to any health care it wanted at any cost.

This was OK for a while but then the population aged and demand became very big; life span increase and demand became even bigger; new treatments were developed and demand exploded; global competition came along and exposed the lie that there was no cost to the consumer. Economies grew and many new technologies and businesses sprang up. Investment in them was profitable. Investors had many choices. All of the health care system had to become more profitable or lose their investors and go out of business. Costs rose.

The demand side of the health care economy must come to a rational state. The supply side must lead this change. Individuals must become responsible for the economics of their health care. Oh sure, many of them will make poor choices. Just look in their grocery carts in the checkout line. You can see they make bad choices at many points in their lives. But we must leave them to make choices and not have a nanny to do this.

If you want to make an argument for the government to do something, let them provide tax reductions (and maybe even vouchers) to help individuals deal with the economics of health care.

[Coastal_ZZs]

The system is outta whack!

That's what happens when you have a healthcare system based on profit.
I don't really want to go there so I will not ...

But something is wrong if:
a widget costs $1.00 ...

me (my insurance company) gets a bill for $4.00 for same widget ...
me (my insurance company) pays a bill for $3.00 for same widget ...
same widget distributer sells same widget online for $1.20 ??

Multiply all widget #'s X 500 to get real numbers in above post.

Why did I pay $3.00 for my widget when I coulda had one for $1.00?!?!? (explanation follows)

1) improper research (mine, lack of) prior to my purchase!
2) not having enough people voice this issue to the Executive Administrator of our health plans!

... this widget bargaining makes me feel like I am buying a couch, not a heath care related item!?!

[roster]

.........

... this widget bargaining makes me feel like I am buying a couch, not a heath care related item!?!

The fundamental laws of economics apply equally to couches and health care.

[DreamStalker]

The fundamental laws of economics apply equally to couches and health care.

Therein lies the problem ... economics should not provide the foundation for healthcare ... healthcare should provide the foundation for economics. If people are healthy, the economy will prosper as a consequence.

True like military and educational resources, healthcare resources are not infinite, but survival requires that those resources be made a prioroity. If the healthcare system collapses because of an imbalance of supply and demand, those tax cuts are not going to do anyone any good because the population will be too sick to contribute to the economy or to protetect themselves, or compete with other more educated nations.

[roster]

... economics should not provide the foundation for healthcare ...

You will get similar results by ignoring the law of gravity.

[debstieb]

I totally agree that our health care system is flawed. It is far from perfect and we need a change. Having said that, I have been a member of a fibromyalgia forum for a couple of years, and we do a lot of complaining about our system (US). There was a lot of talk about getting universal health care, like Canada has. One of the members from Canada said that even though they had universal care, it did not mean the care was optimal. She said that the wait time for tests, surgery, etc.. can be very long. She also said that the well off folks that opt for private ins, or pay out out of pocket, get faster and better care than others on universal plan.

I do agree that we need a better system, it's just after hearing some of the stories from other countries, it makes me think that maybe ours is in some ways not so bad.


Deb