CPAPtalk.com

chunkyfrog wrote:Medicare won't pay for dental care, hearing aids, and most glasses.
I believe it's only a matter of time until they won't cover cpap--or anything past the bare minimum.

Pugsy wrote:I guess I am lucky. My DME bills my insurance (a Medicare Advantage plan that is likely to change each year with whomever gives me no monthly payments ) and sends me a bill in the mail for my 20 % copay of the allowed amount after my insurance has paid them...and I send a check. I never get a bill until insurance has paid. I just now realized that never once have they even asked for a credit card.

chunkyfrog wrote:A new, non-chain DME is in town; they have the green "M",

xyz wrote:Well, I'm still trying to figure out how to solve the problem of paying without giving Apria my cc number.

I found that the website nerdwallet.com has an excellent article on prepaid debit cards. I figured that getting one and putting just enough on it to pay my small co-insurance cost might work.

The nice thing is that when the balance on prepaid cards go to zero, no more can be charged against it. You know, in case an unscrupulous merchant tries to charge you for something you didn't get or didn't want. Know any of those?

nerdwallet even has a "calculate prepaid card fees" feature. For the way I would use it, the American Express Serve card is best, only a $12/yr fee.

So I called Apria and was told they don't take American Express. &^%$($@!

The next cheapest Visa or Master card that is available in my area (according to nerdwallet) has a $49/yr service charge. Not a good deal.

Can anyone think of a solution for this?

Any chance your employer might offer anything like this? I work for a grocery store, and they wanted to eliminate paper paychecks, so they offered paypower accounts free to all employees. I get direct deposit to my checking account, but I got the free paypower account, and I can add cash to it at the grocery at no charge. Since I don't keep money in that account all the time, that is the one I use for places where I would really not want my account on file. I only add money when I want to use it for something.

I did check their website, and their regular account is $5.95 a month, so that is more expensive than your example above.

Something else you might try is a paypal account with debit card. No monthly fee. I think it takes about 3 days to transfer money into the account. Again, it would decline a charge if there is no money in the account. You could make it work like a prepaid card.



bwexler:
> The only dispute was when they insisted I take a humidifier tank that had not been pre approved.
> The insurance never paid and neither did I.

If Apria had his cc number, they probably would have charged him.

chunkyfrog wrote:Update: I just got off the phone with a very nice guy at the local Apria.
He says that the main office will NOT send out supplies without a valid cc# on file. --even if your supplement pays all the deductibles and co-pays. I'm going down to the new brick and mortar to get acquainted. The owner sounds intrigued by data--maybe I'll bring my netbook with sleepyhead and my latest data.