jmcanzo, this is a great question. I think the fact that your HMO paid 100% for the sleep studies is awesome. I can tell you that unless you are on bipap, you are better off buying online. I have 90% coverage with $350 co-pay and still end up paying $350 for the machine (PR1 Remstar Pro) I have seen brand-new on auction for $200.jmcanzo wrote:I checked with my HMO today, they only cover 50% DME
So what should I expect to pay for a machine and stuff? I talked briefly with my Dr today. (I work at the hospital were they did the study). She said I would probably be better off buying from the internet and gave me some addresses. I go for my second study on March 17. If I go with the DME do they have payment plans?
Not sure how this will all work out.....Nice thing the HMO paid 100% for the sleep studies...
So the other thing you have to look out for is the insurance or HMO having a rent to own scheme. The basically get you to pay your co-pay twice unless you get your sleep study and cpap at the beginning of the year in January. When i had my sleep study last March 2009, my doctor and sleep lab never called me back with the results or sent me the results. I am a busy guy so i assumed ok, they must not have found anything. Then on my wellness site from work i saw a diagnosis show up in October that I had been diagnosed with OSA. I got the second titration sleep study in November (they werent going to schedule me until January and I had to scream). My titration study and fitting went well and I found a decent DME, but they only billed be for the initial charge in 2009 and did a rent to own scheme for 12 more months. So once 2010 rolled over, I have a new $350 co-pay.
My whole experience makes me scratch my head and ask, are the doctors, sleep lab, DME and insurance company all in collusion with each other to extract maximum cash from patients ?.Why would the sleep lab and doctor not call me or send me my diagnosis back in March 2009. Why would the sleep lab tell me it would take another two month to schedule a titration study in November and then when i complained they got me scheduled in in two days.
The best deals I have seen are open box unused machines on cpapauction.com. If you have time to wait a week or two you can get a decent machine and mask for like $350-$400. Sometimes you can get lucky and get a new data capable machine for like $200.