LAST EDITED ON Dec-14-20 AT 09:18 PM (EST)
 
>Though one thing in particular stood out to me, and in a
>haha-kidding-but-not-really kind of way, I have to ask: where did you
>get your CPAP and can I have the contact info?

I got my new machine through an online supplier I've been using for replacement masks and stuff for years, which goes by the somewhat prosaic name The CPAP Shop. Their website is... a bit quaint (for instance, the server their pictures are hosted on seems to be down at the moment), but workable, their prices are good, and their shipping times are decent to where I live (they're in NJ, so that might vary for you).

Fair warning, CPAP devices are FDA-regulated, which means you have to have a prescription to buy one yourself. In my case this took a little while to arrange because of the turnaround time at my doctor's office, but apart from taking a couple of weeks, it was pretty easy. My PA wrote me a scrip that literally just said "CPAP MACHINE DX SLEEP APNEA", I scanned it and uploaded it to the supplier's website (they have a button for doing that which pops up when you order something that requires it), and that was perfectly adequate information as far as The CPAP Shop was concerned. :) Anyway, I mention that so you can save yourself a hassle and line it up with your doctor before you start shopping.

(Also, this only applies to the flow generator itself. Masks, hoses, filters etc. are just supplies, you don't need a prescription for those.)

(Also also, all this applies only to the US, but I'm assuming from the rest of the backstory that you're here and not in a first-world country where this stuff is looked after better.)

>Even though I have good insurance through work and all the things I'm
>supposed to have, they *still* want about $1500 out-of-pocket from me
>for a CPAP machine. Which okay, sure, med tech is expensive, everyone
>knows that... but if your backup battery at $375 cost more than your
>CPAP itself...
>
>... man, I'm shopping at the wrong supplier, I tell you what.

Jeez, yeah. I mean, to be fair, when I ordered mine it happened to be massively on sale (completely by chance, I didn't have the paperwork lined up until the Friday after Thanksgiving), but even so, I just looked, and you could get the best part of three units like mine for that amount of money right now, just buying outright.

They've really come down a lot in price and gotten more sophisticated since I started using them. I remember when I got my first one, in 1997, it was laughably primitive by today's standards, and it cost so much that my insurance company took a year to pay it off (which I only discovered when I got a letter at the end of the process saying that I now didn't have to return it if I changed insurance companies).

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.