My supplier (Brannons) charges a 1000 bucks for a basic CPAP machine and
500 for an additional mask and 120 for the hose.Do you have a better supplier (SF bay area) for CPAP than Brannons?
PS I can't find a group dedicated to cpap so I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction.
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alt.support.sleep-disorder
Thanks. Will send it out to them.
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If you have some insurance it will copay if you have a prescription for the machine.
The whole machine is nothing more than a fancy fan and mask.
My insurance has a 500 dollar deductible. So, what I think should cost $100 (machine) + $50 (mask) actually costs me $500 ($1,000 + $500 of which the insurance "pays" $1000).
It's a rip off. Basically, it costs me $500 WITH insurance for something that shouldn't even be close to 500 dollars in the first place!
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CPAP machines are more than a fan and mask but I agree that specialized medical equipment is too expensive. You could make your own out of a surplus gas mask, a vacuum cleaner hose and a hair dryer with a disabled heating element.
The wholesale cost is considerably more than that. CPAP machines are more than just a fan. Medical devices also have to go through stringent design, testing, certification and such that they typical coffee maker does not. Oh, add in a healthy cost of liability insurance. Yes, the sellers do make a profit on them, but the cost is more than you think.
If it truly is just a fan, I bet you can build your own for less than $50.
Have you actually checked your specific coverage? Durable medical goods often have NO deductible.
Best group by far for CPAP is cpaptalk.com. Also check out their sponsor, cpap.com, for good prices on machines, masks, and accessories, and cpapauction.com for smokin' good deals on machines (often brand new for less than half of the regular price). You can get a fully featured, data capable machine at cpap.com for far less than your quote above.
My health insurance (UHC) has a 500 deductible for CPAP machines, masks, and hoses. And then it's 70% of the rest they pay for (I pay 30%).
In the end, it costs about $1000 for the machine and $500 for the mask/hoses so that's 1500 dollars. Out of that 1500 dollars, it costs me
500 deductible and then they pay 700 dollars and I pay 300 dollars out of the rest.It ends up costing me 800 dollars for a machine that should, were it not insured, cost about 100 to 500 dollars (at most!).
That's why costs matter so much.
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I know nothing about these things. Would they be something you could buy through Amazon or Ebay?
Time for a cost benefit check here.
Pay $800.00 for a required medical device or......................
you die.
Seems pretty simple to me.
And as far as the direct answer to your question, have you tried eBay? Lots of sources for machines, masks, pillows, hoses etc.
I have UHC, too, and I know just what you're talking about. Check out cpap.com and cpapauction.com. On CPAP auction, I got a brand-new, data-capable Resmed machine with add-on humidifier AND a new Mirage Softgel mask for less than $400. It's actually cheaper for me to buy outright on cpapauction.com and/or cpap.com than to go through my insurance. Crazy, I know. BTW, I've never seen a machine that cost $100 -- I think that must be a quote for a mask.
Sadly, no. They require a prescription and neither Amazon.com nor eBay will handle them because of this requirement. You can get accessories at these sites, but not machines or masks. Craigslist is a good resource for used ones, though.
That's why Medicare will pay for them when you turn 65.
Since "foreign suppliers" sell prescription drugs over the internet, I wonder why they're not selling homemade cpap machines? Should be a good market for them.
KC
You beat me to the built in costs associated with product liability and onerous government regulations. There is probably a lot of costs included for UL certification. When you see a product that uses a wall wart, the wall wart/wall plug power supply is the only thing that has to have UL approval so the manufacturer saves a lot of money. As far as medical devices go, I met a tech for medical X-ray machines who told me that the cost of a screw for the X-ray may be $25.00 for a fifty cent screw because of the stack of paperwork that goes along with it.
TDD
Both machines and masks require prescriptions (recent change for the masks), so eBay will not carry them. Lots of CPAP accessories there, though.
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