Can I buy my own CPAP machine? (USA)

Sara, give this site a look: http://www.secondwindcpap.com/ . They have some good prices on used/reconditioned items. I have corresponded with them and always got a quick reply so it seems their customer service is good. I have never read anything bad about them. But, I haven't actually bought anything from them.
They would be good if you want to buy strictly out of pocket.

How about going back to your psychiatrist or family doctor for a script. You know now what's required. With script in hand, you could go to another DME in your town, shop around, or go back to CPAP.com.

Jay

sarajane82 wrote: Has anyone else had luck buying from craigslist? DH says he is hesitant about buying something like this used or even semi-used, but I don't see an issue with it...what do you all think?

I bought my first 2 machines off of craigslist. Brand new zero hours but I found local so I could get hands on look at them before purchase. I had no problems. I do see one seller that is long distance that shows up in almost all cities...I recognize the phone number. I have read here that some people have had positive experience with that seller. Prices are fair not steals but fair.
Craigslist is hit or miss for new stuff from private sector. Mostly old stuff and priced based on what DME billed...way over inflated but sometimes a good deal pops up... of course never when you are wanting one right now....

Ebay doesn't allow anything that requires RX. I have seen machines offered but the ad doesn't stay up long once the Ebay police is notified.

Thanks again to everyone. I had cpap.com send an Rx request to my psychiatrist this morning just in case, and it turns out both he AND the sleep doctor faxed in the Rx today, so I should be getting my new machine in 3-5 days. I am SUPER excited!

i'm looking to get a cpap from secondwindcpap.com. They have the standard used $85 cpap machines, which is what i probably can only afford at the moment. has anyone purchased these? I'm a bit weary on how long they last due to the high blower hours. I'll probably upgrade to a better model in the future but cash is tight so $85 sounds wonderful.

Gonna give them a call in a few minutes to ask questions.

firefoxsilver9 wrote:i'm looking to get a cpap from secondwindcpap.com. They have the standard used $85 cpap machines, which is what i probably can only afford at the moment. has anyone purchased these? I'm a bit weary on how long they last due to the high blower hours. I'll probably upgrade to a better model in the future but cash is tight so $85 sounds wonderful.

Secondwindcpap.com won't accept used machines with over 2000 hours. So even their used equipment doesn't have extremely high hours of use. For $85 less than 2000 hours is a good deal. Most of these machines will keep chugging along to 10,000 hours and above. As with anything mechanical...some lemons but for the most part these machines have an extremely long life.

I have a M Series APAP with 3800 hours on it from about Aug 2009 to April 2011 and it is in perfect shape. I only stopped using it because the lure of the PR System One new technology couldn't be ignored any longer.
Monetarily is isn't worth much but it has a lot of hours left in it.

purple wrote:Might consider that if you get your machine from cpap.com, then your insurance company might not ever pay for any of your future treatment. Today insurance companies look for any reason to ditch their responsibility, and your buying online, and not use a DME, which should provide some (supposedly competent) person work with you, set the machine, might be all they need. That might include future trips to your sleep doc, to Including masks.

Oh that is just patently untrue. An insurance company simply can NOT "ditch" you for purchasing legitimate supplies and/or equipment "out of plan". They may have a provision that states that they will not reimburse out-of-plan purchases, but they can not use those purchases as leverage to deny COVERED (as... IN-plan) services and/or purchases.

I AGREE, however, that many insurance companies have some highly paid "Loss Mitigation" departments, but in the US you are free to get your equipment anywhere you choose and it can't be held against you in terms of continuing care.

Does that work with Medicare, too?
I intend to own all my machines outright; but tap my Medicare account for supplies.
(Heck, I paid for it)

If you have a sleep study report that says you need CPAP then medicare will buy you a machine and supplies. I ran into some real bureaucratic stupidity since my sleep study was done about 16 years ago, and all the records discarded about 6 years ago. They needed a report to buy me a new humidifier and a Drs. Rx or even diagnosis wasn't enough. Of course nobody would ever read the report but the idiots at Medicare demanded I get the useless study, which they paid for. I slept so poorly during the study they couoldn't even get to the point of fitting a mask and checking my pressures so it was a total waste.

my prescription is ready but the results of the 2nd study with the cpap titration isn't back yet. Is there anything that would be included in that 2nd study that should make me wait til i get those results before purchasing a cpap machine? If i already got the script then that should be enough correct? I don't want to waste a few more days if the script is really i'll i need. i contacted secondwindcpap's customer service and they recommended i wait but not sure what the benefit would be for that.

firefoxsilver9 wrote:my prescription is ready but the results of the 2nd study with the cpap titration isn't back yet. Is there anything that would be included in that 2nd study that should make me wait til i get those results before purchasing a cpap machine? If i already got the script then that should be enough correct? I don't want to waste a few more days if the script is really i'll i need. i contacted secondwindcpap's customer service and they recommended i wait but not sure what the benefit would be for that.

Only reason to wait would be the remote chance that a different type of machine would be needed....like BiLevel
If no chance of that then the other reason might be what pressure setting to put the machine on but you can easily do that yourself if you have the provider manual and are comfortable setting your own pressure.

I can't think of any other scenarios where waiting is needed.

Pugsy wrote:

firefoxsilver9 wrote:my prescription is ready but the results of the 2nd study with the cpap titration isn't back yet. Is there anything that would be included in that 2nd study that should make me wait til i get those results before purchasing a cpap machine? If i already got the script then that should be enough correct? I don't want to waste a few more days if the script is really i'll i need. i contacted secondwindcpap's customer service and they recommended i wait but not sure what the benefit would be for that.

Only reason to wait would be the remote chance that a different type of machine would be needed....like BiLevel
If no chance of that then the other reason might be what pressure setting to put the machine on but you can easily do that yourself if you have the provider manual and are comfortable setting your own pressure.

I can't think of any other scenarios where waiting is needed.

OK. I think i'll go ahead and request the script from the sleep clinic and order from secondwindcpap.com

Now i just have to figure out what size mask i need for the CareFusion Advantage Hush Nasal Mask with Headgear.

My physician recommended I buy my own with a few stipulations: he wanted a humidifier, data download capability and suggested I get an autopap vs a straight CPAP in case we had to go that direction. IMHO, the devilbiss Intellipap autopap was the best choice for me. It had all of the requirements from my physician plus it was $464.00 total. Another thing to consider is the warranty, most machines have a 2 year warranty and the Devilbiss has a 3 year warranty. My insurance company will only reimburse me for 1 machine every 5 years so a longer warranty was jmportant to me.