How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#71

Post by eek2121 » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:25 PM UTC

geekpondering wrote: post #25

I move around a lot and have run into all kinds of weirdness when it comes to CPAP stuff. Any time you establish a new doc, if your CPAP prescription is more than 1-2 years old you need to do another sleep study, so I think I've done 6 different sleep studies over the years. The other thing to remember about CPAP is that it's not just the machine, you have to get replaceable supplies - masks, air tubes, etc every so…

I get my supplies from illegitimate sellers on amazon precisely because of this.

I also learned how to adjust my machine manually because it was taking way too long to schedule new sleep doctor appointments and then appointments with the DME provider…I shouldn’t have to wait 6 months to a year in order to to get quality sleep.

I will never understand why a prescription for my BiPAP or my glasses is required. It is all pointless bureaucracy.

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#72

Post by thfuran » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:26 PM UTC

RecycledEle wrote: post #31

quickthrower2 wrote: post #13

Met someone coming from US to Australia to visit and was nicely surprised you can just go buy a CPAP, cheaply with no referral. Just like buying a dishwasher or something. Makes me wonder if in the US a trip to mexico or canada or somewhere could make this easier.

Bingo! As someone with multiple "pre-existing conditions" who cares for a stroke survivor (my wife) and a stage 4 chronic kidney disease patient (my mother-in-law,) I suggest we do the following: 1. make private health insurance illegal 2. pass a Constitutional amendment allowing every human the unlimited and absolute right to buy, make, modify, and sell medical things including importing and exporting those items. I…

>pass a Constitutional amendment allowing every human the unlimited and absolute right to buy, make, modify, and sell medical things including importing and exporting those items.

I'm pretty sure I've never heard of a worse idea for a law. Removing any possibility of regulating the quality or efficacy of medicines and medical devices will injure and kill far more people than any resulting improved access would help.

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#73

Post by lolc » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:28 PM UTC

forinti wrote: post #49

jawngee wrote: post #39

Yeah try importing a CPAP from the states into Vietnam if you want a real adventure. A $650 cpap machine costs well over $2K here. So I thought I'd import one. Apparently you need a prescription in the states? Ok, get a "prescription" from an online service that basically just asks you if you snore over a video call. Amazing. Buy machine and have it sent to a freight forwarding service. They fuck up the paperwork. It…

I don't know Vietnam, but to my South American sensibility, it looks like they were fishing for a bribe.

Fishing is not the phrase I'd used. Insisting on, maybe.

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#74

Post by londons_explore » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:33 PM UTC

xrd wrote: post #60

londons_explore wrote: post #33

Please folks remember that it isn't compulsory to use a companies byzantine process. Instead, check your insurance policy wording that you are covered, spend the money on a new machine, send a single letter to the insurer asking to be reimbursed, and when they don't reimburse within 30 days file in small claims court. They'll pay. They don't want to physically show up in court or have you send bailiffs to their HQ ov…

Does small claims court work in some states and not other ones? I'm assuming you are us based? And my understanding was that small claims courts are very different in each state.

They are, but the basic idea works pretty much everywhere.

In general, small claims courts aren't very strict on the correct procedure being followed - they are explicitly designed to be accessible to non-experts.

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#75

Post by robmccoll » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:35 PM UTC

klabetron wrote: post #19

verytrivial wrote: post #16

You can now understand why the UK is holding on the its NHS with white knuckles despite the Conservative push to dissolve it by stealth.

Though it’d probably take 666 days to see a sleep specialist and get your first CPAP machine… (which I suspect you’d agree is part of the stealth dissolution plan)

I have terrible news about systems built on private health insurance (USA): it will still take 666 days to see a specialist, and you will need a referral from your PCP who may also decide they want to see you in person first. This may be its own scheduling nightmare. Then you may find out that your preferred specialist is out of network for your private insurance. The waits are a generally a supply and demand issue more than a beurocracies issue, but I can assure you that multiplying the number of beurocracies involved in getting healthcare doesn't speed anything up.

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#76

Post by petesergeant » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:37 PM UTC

jawngee wrote: post #39

Yeah try importing a CPAP from the states into Vietnam if you want a real adventure. A $650 cpap machine costs well over $2K here. So I thought I'd import one. Apparently you need a prescription in the states? Ok, get a "prescription" from an online service that basically just asks you if you snore over a video call. Amazing. Buy machine and have it sent to a freight forwarding service. They fuck up the paperwork. It…

If you need to do this again, fly to Bangkok, they have ResMed and Philips authorised resellers with machines already in country, although incredibly enough you can also just order them off Lazada

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#77

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:38 PM UTC

verytrivial wrote: post #16

You can now understand why the UK is holding on the its NHS with white knuckles despite the Conservative push to dissolve it by stealth.

The NHS is a failed system that absolutely nobody is envious of, except brits because for some weird reason, they seem to think that the alternative is poor people dying in the streets.

Similar systems as the NHS have been introduced and subsequently canned in favor of more sane approaches in other European countries, which now have better (but still socialized) healthcare as a consequence.

There is no central european country with a similar amount of health care horror stories than the UK, and none where it plays a similarly important role in its identity. It boggles the mind.

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#78

Post by tomohawk » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:39 PM UTC

Alternatively, try a low histamine diet. Many people who have been told they need surgery to correct "deviated septum" or need cpap have found their problems go away.

Edit: to downvoters - why the closed mind?

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#79

Post by lolc » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:40 PM UTC

nojs wrote: post #58

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone should start a SaaS that just automates this process. Thinking about it, the only moderately difficult part would be compiling a list of small-claims courts and understanding the different paperwork each one requires. After that, the whole thing could just be a single page with a few form fields (email, insurance company info, upload purchase receipt), a credit card form for the SaaS to collect its fee, and a…

> the only moderately difficult part would be compiling a list of small-claims courts and understanding the different paperwork each one requires. In reality the difficult part would actually be getting your service in front of people like OP at the right time. How do you imagine the guy in this post finds you and pays for your service? Have you ever looked for a similar service yourself when you faced similar issues…

I think this is where search engine ads would work. The keyword is Anthem. The message is "File Anthem claims through us. Get paid in no more than 60 days or we waive your $10 fee."

Re: How to Replace Your CPAP in Only 666 Days

#80

Post by petesergeant » Sun, Feb 04, 2024, 12:41 PM UTC

verytrivial wrote: post #16

You can now understand why the UK is holding on the its NHS with white knuckles despite the Conservative push to dissolve it by stealth.

I dunno, I’ve just spent 18 months in Dubai, where I had private insurance, and it was a breeze. See a UK-trained specialist for almost anything within a day or two, and hospital direct billing meant I almost never had to interact with the insurer directly.

I guess my point is that as reassuring (as a Brit) as it is to know the NHS is there, private insurance isn’t necessarily bad if regulated well (and that matches my experience of having private insurance in the UK too), it’s just America’s seems incredibly poorly regulated.