Rental question

Hi,

I've been on straight CPAP for 3 months and would like to get an APAP. My question is -- is a capped rental the same as a trial?

The reason I ask, is that my DME is trying to tell me I can't change machines. When I was first diagnosed, I thought the doctor prescribed a trial on CPAP. The RT really questioned me about where I heard about APAP, and why I wanted it. As if it's a big industry secret that patients aren't suppose to know about. RT finally relented, but said I needed a script from my doctor for a trial. (It was my doctor, who suggested that I see if the DME had an APAP that they could loan me.)

Is the DME giving me the run, around? Certainly, I'm not stuck with the same machine for the next 5 years, am I?

Any advice?

Thanks

I don't know your specific case, but...

The "capped rental" probably refers to your insurance company. They probably only cover either rental or rent-to-own on ONE machine. If you switch to a different machine, you'll have a higher out of pocket, because you'll have to start over paying for it (after all, you'd be getting a new machine and returning a used one, so there is a loss in value for the DME), and the insurance company isn't going to start from scratch.

Insurance companies negotiate a "discount" price for the machine, and I suppose if the DME wants to be a serious jerk about it, they can say that this discount only applies to ONE machine per customer, and then charge you the full price for the next one. But even if they don't, let me use my coverage as an example.

My coverage allows a rent-to-own on a CPAP machine, with a negotiated rental price which, after 10 payments, means the machine is mine. On top of that, I have a cap on the amount of coverage I have, so after $700 of insurance company payments, the rest is on me.

So if I rent one machine for 3 months at something like $145/month and then switch to another, I'm effectively making it a 13 month rental instead of a 10. The insurance company will only pay 10 of that, so I'm definitely out $145 * 3. The DME may be a jerk and decide that I have to pay full price on the second machine, in which case I also have to cover the difference between $145 and $199/month for the other 7 months.

All things considered, you may find it cheaper (run the numbers) to just buy one outright from CPAP.com. They have very reasonable prices, and you should be able to get an Auto for somewhere between $500 and $800 (depending on which model you choose, whether you get the software with it, etc etc)

Good luck!

Liam, spokesmodel.

Thanks Liam - great explanation. I will definately run the numbers. No sense in paying more than I have too.......

Sounds like you were all lucky for the rental prices. My provider was charging me $325 a month for my duet bipap. They wouldn't tell me how much it was to buy it outright. When they discovered my insurance had run out (2 months) they finally did. They wanted $3400 for a outdated machine. They had stopped making the duet. I purchased it out of pocket for a bipap pro for about $1600 from cpap. I could have bought two better machines and had $200 left over at their prices. Live and learn I guess.