Don't you want to boycott Resmed

Very convincing points MJ.

I also have noticed that many of the displeased coments on this thread are from those that prefer non-resmed products anyway??

Not sure I would go as far as buying resmed stock myself ... but then again, I don't make enough money to buy any kind of stock and just barely lucky enough to have a health insurance that covers 80% of my health costs (unfortunately my copays and premiums have doubled over the past 5 years while my salary has only gone up about 6% )

Nevertheless, I intend to make sure my next machine is a Rispironics to provide some variety to my treatment.

- roberto

I also have noticed that many of the displeased coments on this thread are from those that prefer non-resmed products anyway??

Wow, that's a good point. I hadn't noticed that. So what are those folks complaining about anyway?

I think the Resipronics would be a good choice. Personally, I am looking at getting one of those Auro Everests as a second machine.

MandoJohnny wrote:Well, I have to make a counterpoint here. I have no financial or business interest in this argument.

Capitalism 101, folks: ResMed management's job is to maximize shareholder value. They are not a welfare organization. This is obviously part of a strategy to maximize value by dominating a channel to market, namely the DME channel, and my bet is that it works. Sorry to break the news, but this little "boycott" proposed here, however well intended, will have no effect. None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. It is a tempest in a teapot. This group is not a significant part of that chosen channel to market.

Wonder of wonders! I essentially agree with MandoJohnny. I was considering an equivalent sort of reply although would not have used an equivalent tone. I try not to patronize folks.

For me, whatever Resmed does with their business is their business. What, where and how I spend my $$ is my business. I may, or may not, understand their intentions. I may, or may not, think their plan (whatever it is) will be effective but that will not make a hill of beans worth of difference to whatever they do.

I will stock up on some Swift parts from CPAP.COM before 9/30 and then do whatever business I feel I NEED to do with Resmed through my insurance and DME (much as I do not want to have any interaction with them). When it comes to my health and compliance I must act in my own best interest. The Swift has been, and remains, the most effective interface I have used so I will continue with it. If there were another that was equally effective, in all areas of effectiveness, and it wasn't Resmed then I would use it.

It has taken me years to understand and accept where, when and how I can, or can not, make a difference. My father used to accuse me of tilting at windmills and I took great stubborn pride in the accusation. It can be very tiring and fruitless so I have put down my lance. I still do not necessarily agree with what he often identifed as a windmill and therin is the rub and the skill - identifying windmills and not playing Don Quixote. Playing the Don can be amusing to others and feel glorious to oneself but it is ultimately crazy.

David

I don't put my choices of equipment on my posts as I use several and not just one, but I own two resmed machines and four resmed interfaces and I think resmed products are the best around. But I also have the right of free enterprise as a consumer and I don't like their tactics in retailing their products. Thus, I choose to exercise my rights and not buy their products anymore. Buy stock in their company if you choose. Personally I feel that would be a poor investment but you do have that choice. It would be similar to one I made five years ago. I became fed up with Microsoft and exercised my right to switch to Apple (best decision I ever made). I sold my Microsoft stock which had been flat for some time (and still is) and bought Apple. Apple stock has gone up over 700 percent in the same time Microsoft has not gone up at all. Why, for the same reason, Microsoft got arrogant and dictatorial, Apple listened to the consumer and brought product and innovation and service to the marketplace and Microsoft has been trying to play catch up for years now.(where's Longhorn?) Point is, I should not be forced to go to a DME to buy my products. Their trying to force me an many others will drive business to their competitors. I have seem it many times in my 30 years in business. The consumer should tell a manufacturer what and how, not one avenue of distribution.

Well put Snoozin.

I agree that for now people are still free to choose how to spend and invest their money. Again I'm one of the poor with little to spend and none to invest.

On another thread someone stated that Resmend has initiated the same marketing model that Apple has. I don't agree with the anology but what do I know? ... my expertise is definitely not in business -- which may explain why I am poor.

- roberto

DreamStalker wrote:... my expertise is definitely not in business -- which may explain why I am poor.

Don't despair, Roberto. This reminded me of the anecdotal story Paul Harvey told yesterday morning at the end of his news broadcast.
He told the story of a son of somebody that had gone to work delivering pizzas. At the end of the first month, the boy had made more profit than Ford Motor Company had made in ALL of last year.

Everything is relative.

Best wishes,

Den

Wulfman wrote: This reminded me of the anecdotal story Paul Harvey told yesterday morning at the end of his news broadcast.
He told the story of a son of somebody that had gone to work delivering pizzas. At the end of the first month, the boy had made more profit than Ford Motor Company had made in ALL of last year.

Everything is relative.

Best wishes,

Den

Yes. If only I had the business savvy of Ford Motor to hide all of my profits in offshore interests or come out with a pizza specialty for CPAP users... then maybe I could be less poor.

Wait a minute ... I think MikeMoran already started the CPAP pizza business model ... Oh well

Actually, I don't have to look far to realize that it is indeed all relative and I am way better off than many.

- r

DreamStalker, Most people have more than they need, it's the wanting more than you need that causes trouble.

The other guy's Caddy looks good in the driveway, but the food you can bring back from the store, would taste the same, if it came back in a Ford.

You are a reliable honest fellow, That's, a better goal in life than being rich!

Money is just a way to keep score, the things that matter, are closer to home.

Jim

MandoJohnny wrote:

I also have noticed that many of the displeased coments on this thread are from those that prefer non-resmed products anyway??

Wow, that's a good point. I hadn't noticed that. So what are those folks complaining about anyway?

Perhaps because they don't like to see any cpap manufacturer unnecessarily (imho) courting one segment of cpap sellers (bricks and mortar DMEs) at the expense of uninsured OSA sufferers who have turned to the internet for their medical equipment.

I have no objection at all to a company (resmed) working to maximize profits to their stockholders IF while doing it they are not trampling on sick people unnecessarily (imho.) resmed is an extremely profitable company. Bricks and mortar DMEs are, for the most part, quite profitable enterprises. There was no need (imho) for resmed to take this action.

There are a LOT of people without health insurance in the U.S.
Over 45 million with no health insurance.

Many of the uninsured have OSA. Many have been diagnosed or will be. resmed is slamming the door shut to more affordable prices for their products on the internet ... unnecessarily, imho.

I've used a lot of different machines by 5 different cpap manufacturers. Yes, Respironics is what I've finally settled on as my primary machine and Aeiomed's interface as my favorite mask. Long before resmed came up with their idea to implement mandatory minimum pricing for internet stores, I've posted complimentary comments about my experiences with resmed machines and masks...notably the Activa.

If it had been Respironics instead of resmed initially taking this stance toward internet sales, I can promise you I'd be just as critical and would no longer purchase their products.

Why? Because I know what it is to find a mask or a machine that suits you. Just because I found, after a lot of trial and error, that other brands of each suit me better doesn't mean I don't have sympathy for uninsured people who have found a particular resmed mask or machine suits them best. I'm just sorry to see resmed deliberately and unnecessarily (imho) make it harder for uninsured OSA sufferers who are using resmed equipment to buy what they need.

A drop in the bucket...sure. Tilting at a windmill...yep. Would I criticize someone who is going to keep buying from resmed because they've found a mask and/or machine that works well for them? I'd never think any less of someone for that. God knows this kind of treatment is difficult to get comfortable with. Luckily there are any number of machines and masks I've tried that I could make work for me if I had to.

YEAH......what SHE said!!!

Actually, what RG just said was ONE of a number of points I brought up in an e-mail I sent to "Rip-em-off Med" last night.
I don't anticipate a reply, even though I told them that I'd been using one of their products for the last year and a half.....and wouldn't be buying any more of their products, ever again.

Den

Very well said RG!!!!!

Been wanting to try the "hybrid
mask, so now is a good opportunity.

I'm still not exactly sure I buy into the belief that ResMed has any obligation to the uninsured. Isn't that what social programs and charity agencies are for?

I, for one, do not disagree with anything Rested Gal said. In fact I agree with everything Laura said. I just do not believe that anything I do will change Resmed's position. They have made it clear what their position is on Internet Retail Marketing and how they intend to deal with it. I do not think it is a particularly fair or compassionate position and I think it reflects somewhat ill on their stance as a health care provider (v. publicly held and traded company) and I will not buy Resmed products without consideration of this fact but, if it is in my best interest to buy a Resmed product or seek to acquire a Resmed product through my DME and insurance, I will do so. I think it is sad, and reflects poor citizenship, that people who do not have insurance will not have a more affordable way to get access Resmed products if that is what works best for them. I do believe that corporations do have a responsibility to act as good citizens as well as meeting their fidicuiary responsibility to their shareholders but it is manifestly evident, from long history, that good corporate citizenship is not something rewarded by the market nor insisted upon by enforeced regulation. As a society and nation we have made it our mantra and one of our core beliefs that profit is everything, the larger the better, and on a quarterly basis.

David

Anonymous wrote:I'm still not exactly sure I buy into the belief that ResMed has any obligation to the uninsured. Isn't that what social programs and charity agencies are for?

Who do you think pays for the social and charitable programs?

"Insurance" is, in itself, a "social" concept. (as in socialistic)

I don't think anybody has said that ResMed has an obligation to the uninsured. However, it appears that they have an obligation to the B&M DMEs.

Den