Whoppers I have been told from DME, techs, etc

archangle wrote:RWhether you call it "wireless" or "cellular,"

he said 'wifi' not 'wireless'.

When I told my DME here in Australia that I was going to import a machine from the USA, she warned me that machines there were made to last only 2 years. Something to do with insurance, apparently.

TechJungle

TechJungle wrote:When I told my DME here in Australia that I was going to import a machine from the USA, she warned me that machines there were made to last only 2 years. Something to do with insurance, apparently.

TechJungle

I was told that a machine in the US that cost $1,700 should be purchased in my country - Canada (for $3,600); because the US has absolutely no standards and that the AC power in the US is unreliable. I'm not making this up. The DME representative was recently invited to our village to give a demonstration and pep talk sponsored by our local pharmacy. They are all scary!

Those are BIG WHOPPERS Pesser. I would guess the USA is more regulated than other countries. That's a reason many buy drugs in Canada. The manufacturers are in the USA and no generics can be made until copyrights run out. However Canada copies and sells them cheaper. My M series is still going great after over 5 years plus I have two more that work fine, older models, all purchased in the USA.

sthnreb wrote:Those are BIG WHOPPERS Pesser. I would guess the USA is more regulated than other countries. That's a reason many buy drugs in Canada. The manufacturers are in the USA and no generics can be made until copyrights run out. However Canada copies and sells them cheaper. My M series is still going great after over 5 years plus I have two more that work fine, older models, all purchased in the USA.

I agree with you. I purchased my latest PR760 in the US. Odd too that PR and Resmed are not US companies? At least I was told that.

PR is in Holland, ResMed Australia.

Pesser wrote:

TechJungle wrote:When I told my DME here in Australia that I was going to import a machine from the USA, she warned me that machines there were made to last only 2 years. Something to do with insurance, apparently.

TechJungle

I was told that a machine in the US that cost $1,700 should be purchased in my country - Canada (for $3,600); because the US has absolutely no standards and that the AC power in the US is unreliable. I'm not making this up. The DME representative was recently invited to our village to give a demonstration and pep talk sponsored by our local pharmacy. They are all scary!

The US lags the civilized world in terms of consumer safety and protection regulation in a lot of ways. You may consider that to be good or bad.

However, it costs money to maintain multiple designs of hardware. The manufacturers aren't going to to go to the trouble and expense of maintaining different US and worldwide models. Also, the US safety standards are being tightened all the time and are becoming more and more like the standards in other countries.

In particular, I think it's really, really unlikely that ResMed and Philps Respironics would find it profitable to make a separate less reliable and less safe US model. If you look at the US models, they generally have worldwide safety stamps and voltages. e.g. My S9 and PRS1 machines are all 50/60 Hz and 110/250 volt power supplies.

I was supposed to have my mask refit this morning. First, the tech kept asking me if I actually had a CPAP machine even though I said twice that I've been on CPAP for almost four years. They didn't tell me over the phone to bring my machine with me (I didn't have to last time) and the tech would not let me try a mask with pressure to check for leaks. She said it was unsanitary. How is it sanitary to put a used mask on my face then? And how is it sanitary to use loaner equipment? They didn't have any of the masks I wanted to try. They had a very limited selection of masks. The tech was very rude and finally smugly said "Well, I've been here six months and we don't do that." So I figured, fine, I'll reschedule and bring my machine next time but then she didn't want to reschedule me. I finally said fine I'll call and reschedule and walked out.

At this point, I'm so sick of Apria I'm just going to buy my masks from our host. My doctor is sending my Rx to them with 'patient choice' so I can try out multiple masks. I'm just upset that it's worth spending the cash myself so as not to have to deal with them. I'm not made of money but I have a limited BS input capacity.

I've never used Apria but I have heard good and bad. They are on my Medicare approved list and a office is not far away. I went by to check them out and see about a new machine and mask. First, they were difficult to find, in the back of an office complex and the last office. I went inside where there was a counter but no one there and this was about 1:30 PM. There was a door open which looked like offices/desks and perhaps a warehouse area but no one there either. I waited a few minutes and never saw anyone so I left. I had called earlier and was put on hold by an automated answering system, which I eventually hung up. So, that was my experience with them. I went to another company which took over a month to gather information to approve a machine. Because it is a little cheaper usually going through Medicare, I did that. My last M series machine was about $1550 here and the DME charged me $50 a month rent for 13 months. It ended up near $700 but he charged Medicare $3500. So guessing most of the DME's rape the Medicare system. If you can afford it, it could possibly be best to purchase outright from the best price provider. (He got mad when I mentioned how much he was getting for the machine and told me not to tell him how to run his business.) I was obligated at the time but not since.

My last M series machine was about $1550 here and the DME charged me $50 a month rent for 13 months. It ended up near $700 but he charged Medicare $3500. So guessing most of the DME's rape the Medicare system. If you can afford it, it could possibly be best to purchase outright from the best price provider. (He got mad when I mentioned how much he was getting for the machine and told me not to tell him how to run his business.) I was obligated at the time but not since.

No rape. They bill Medicare whatever they want but Medicare does NOT pay that amount. Medicare has set rates, regardless of how much the DME bills. The DME billed amount is pure fantasy on their part.

Crapria has definitely earned its nickname.

Medicare allowables are often fairly close to the prices our hosts want.
The main exception is filters; if Medicare bought from cpap.com,
filters would cost a fraction of what they pay now.