Greetings - need help w/machine selection

Just came back from my DME and had it all explained to me. In Ontario the government pays for 75% of the CPAP at a set price no matter what machine you get. So the higher price of the machine the lower profit they get. They are not allowed to charge more even if the customer will pay the difference or it will not qualify for the program. My insurance company knowing this will only pay the 25% of what is left. So no matter what the machine is the selling price must be $1040 where $780 is paid by the government and $280 is paid by insurance. Insurance will pay no more than that if you love in Ontario but will cover up to $2000 for a machine if you live elsewhere in Canada as Ontario is the only province that still has this program. So the other DME was trying to pull a fast one on me. By getting me to pay an extra $500 which is against the program. The way DMEs try to get around the lost profit is by offering service plans which cover downloads and consults which of course i didn't take. My accessories are separate and I have $500 a year to spend covered by my insurance. I guess the other DME just lost $500 a year in sales as I would be using this up each year. Dumb dumb dumb.

BTW Sheriff, I like chocolate glazed

Ah... health care in Canada. I wonder if my folks still have my old OHIP card Yeah the only way Canadian DME's can really make big profit margins is through service programs and optional non-medically necessary features/benefits.

Well I have some updates. I called the supplier yesterday morning, and got an appointment for the afternoon. My doctors office goofed the equipment order, so they had a PR System One waiting for me. Luckily, I brought the prescription that specified the S9 AutoSet.

They didn't have a brand-spanking new S9 AutoSet, only one with 20 hours of use. It never went to a patient. They used this machine for fitting masks on dummy heads, checking for leaks, and demos. If I wanted a brand-new unit, I'd need to wait until Monday. Given how hectic work has been, I decided to take the S9 they had instead of scheduling additional time off.

Thanks to the suggestions here, I confirmed the device is the S9 AutoSet with H5i humidifier and ClimateLine slim hose. As an engineer, I'm quite impressed with the overall product design. ResMed nailed a lot of key usability requirements, so this is a big improvement from the Respironics M-Star.

The technician was extremely cool too. He was a very direct, and didn't give me any BS. He fit me with the Swift FX mask, but his fit was extremely loose. He said it's supposed to be that way. I decided to give it a try. Here's how last night went...

• *I didn't sleep well. While that's mostly my fault (having a couple of beers & going to bed at 1am) the mask did wake me up several times and I was constantly repositioning the nasal pillows each time.
  *My Zeo head piece indicated that I woke up the number of times I remember waking up! Usually it reports multiple waking episodes that I don't remember. This suggests that I remained in a sleep-state through most of the night!
  *The machine is SILENT!!!! I didn't even know when it turned on! This is a massive improvement!
  *The humidifier may not be working correctly, or my setup is wrong. I set the temperature to 70F. This morning the water tank was as full as it was last night and my sinuses felt slightly dry... not horrible but noticeable.

I felt crappy today so I took a nap in the afternoon. This time I tightened the nasal pillows and slept MUCH better. With a few more adjustments and tweaks to the humidifier settings, I just might have found a winning solution!

I think it's safe to say that I've found an awesome DME supplier and a great machine!

On a side note to Sam & Sheriff - if you guys are both cops, I want to say thank you for your service to keep our communities safe. I had to good fortune of meeting one of your brethren Thursday night who did an unbelievable job helping me recover SWMBO's lost cell phone - which these scumbags had no plans on returning. He had no evidence except our word, and managed to tactfully talk his way into the guys house, and get them to return the phone. I'm still blown away at how he pulled it off! I plan on writing a commendation letter to his chief.

I have the S9 Autoset and love it. SleepyHead helps me communicate my issues to this community who have helped 1000% more than my sleep doc or DME.

Last night I slept unbelievably well! Very few disruptions and woke up feeling really good - albeit tired as I woke up directly from REM stage sleep.

So far so good!!!