PDA

View Full Version : Oxygen Concentrator ?



Rich Engelhardt
10-10-2016, 3:00 PM
Doc says I need one.
Ok, so, he writes a prescription for one and his office asks me if I have a preference for a supplier. I say not really and.. acouple days later I get a call from some place that says they had been contacted by my doctor.
They ask me a couple questions about my medical coverage,,,,then call back a few hours later and...

They tell me my Medicare Advantage plan will pick up 80% of the cost and I have to pay 20%, which comes to $19.99 - which I will have to pay to the driver when he drop off the equipment. Then they want to know when a good time is to drop off the equipment.

Whoa....hold the oxygen horses here...you say I have to pay $19.99 - 20%. Is that it? a one time charge of $19.99? Exactly what is it I'm getting, how big is it, what brand name is it? Etc, etc,etc,..sounds like a pig in a poke to me!

Turns out the $20 a month is my part of the cost per month for a 5 year rental. I get online and see these oxygen concentrators sell for anywhere from $699 to $2500 - - so I'm paying $6000 for one?????
Actually, they want me to pay $6000 for something I have no idea what it is I'm getting.

Anyone have any words of wisdom they can share with me as far as what direction I should go and/or is there some place on the web I can go to and read up on these things - - - that isn't just a "sales pitch"? There's a lot of hits when I Google oxygen concentrator, but, all of them are come ons to buy from them.

Dave Richards
10-10-2016, 3:12 PM
You could call around to other home healthcare durable medical goods providers in the area and see what their deal is. you should also check to see if the rental fee includes servicing and regular maintenance. It might be that a provider has a very low price but charges you for the servicing. It's worth calling around.

Also find out who made the concentrator and the model number. There are service manuals for many of them available for free with a google search. It'd be worth comparing what the service manual says for periodic service with what they say they'll do.

Mike Henderson
10-10-2016, 3:38 PM
Before she passed away, my wife used an oxygen concentrator. It was fully paid for by Medicare (regular Medicare, not an HMO, which is what an advantage plan is). There was no "lease term". When she passed away, I called the company and they picked it up. No charge to me ever.

It's close to open enrollment right now. Switch to regular Medicare and you won't have to pay.

Mike

[Oh, one thing to watch for. If you have a cat, they like to chew on the hose. My wife would tell me that she was having trouble breathing and I'd go check the hose and find a chewed section. I used electrical tape to tape it up so the oxygen would flow to my wife. Happened more than once.]

Jerome Stanek
10-10-2016, 5:28 PM
My sister in law needed one and her insurance wouldn't pay til she met her DMS deductible that was exactly how much she would pay a year. I ended up buying one. She needed a prescription and it was about what she paid for her rental for 2 months. We picked a couple up off Craigs list as a stand by. I have one here that I bought off Craigs list. Check with your insurance and see what they will pay toward one. Also you should have your doc write a script for Cannulas, hoses and a humidifier.

Yonak Hawkins
10-10-2016, 5:40 PM
My wife has knowledge in this area so I asked her what advice you may be able to use. She said : Don't buy one. They require regular maintenance and the maintenance is on the owner (and you don't want it to be you - also, you don't want it to be on you if the concentrator fails and you have to buy a new one). Also, she said to call Medicare Advantage for advice. They have nurses on duty just to answer such questions. A question they may need the answer to is : Will you have to be on oxygen full time ? ..Which means you will have to have a back-up system, as these concentrators may fail at times, which is a large tank in your house to use when your concentrator is being serviced. Also, if full time, you will have to have a portable system for when you go out. I hope some of this helps and is not too far off the mark.

Stephen Tashiro
10-10-2016, 5:41 PM
The stationary types of oxgen concentrator can be noisy. It's worthwhile to make sure you're getting a quiet one. They can be rented from medical supply places and Medicare usually funds that. If you buy a concentrator then it will be up to you to arrange for any repairs on it. If you rent one, the rental company handles replacing a machine that breaks.

If you use a stationary oxygen concentrator at home, will you require oxygen when you travel? That will require a different arrangement - oxygen cylinders or a battery powered concentrator.

There are technicalities about whether Medicare funds oxygen that involve whether you have been prescribed 24 hour oxygen or not. A friend of mine had to have a "sleep test" to verify he needed oxygen at night before Medicare would fund his oxygen concentrator.

Jerome Stanek
10-10-2016, 6:05 PM
We bought the one for my Sister in law as it was going to cost her more a year than a new unit. hers cost her about three months rental and she now has 2 units one is a backup in case the main unit breaks. Her unit is 2 years old now and she just had it checked and it tested fine. We did get her a portable unit also as she had the bottles and they are a pain big clumsy and only last about 4 hrs for the large ones. Her portable plugs into the car when they travel and into the wall when she is visiting. Only uses the batteries when she is shopping or out and the batteries last 8 hrs and she has a second set.

John A langley
10-10-2016, 8:17 PM
Apria Healthcare I do believe they are a national company, The equipment they gave me is all new thy supplied me with enough hose to go from my bedroom to my family room thy give me a new hose over six weeks and six nose pieces with a short hose medcare pays for the whole deal right now I only need mine at night so I've Learned to put it from the back of my head over my ears to my nose rather than under my chin and over my ears to my nose it stays on better I can only blame my situation on not wanting a respirator and a heavy smoker good luck

Jerry Bruette
10-10-2016, 8:28 PM
My mother used a oxygen concentrator it was about the size of a dehumidifier and yes they can be a little noisy. More important than that though would be being careful when walking around while using it. Mom got tangled in the hose and took a fall, broke her arm just below the shoulder not good when you're 88 years old.

The duration of the oxygen bottles depends on how many liters they're set for, obviously the higher the setting the shorter the duration.

I have no idea what the cost of the concentrator or the oxygen bottles was.

Hope nobody in your house smokes, it doesn't play well with having oxygen around.

Stephen Tashiro
10-10-2016, 8:59 PM
Anyone have any words of wisdom they can share with me as far as what direction I should go and/or is there some place on the web I can go to and read up on these things - - - that isn't just a "sales pitch"? There's a lot of hits when I Google oxygen concentrator, but, all of them are come ons to buy from them.

I suggest that your first contact a local medical equipment rental business. They will probably do the Medicare paperwork for you if you bring them your prescription. Rent a machine for awhle and see what you like or don't like about it. Then you'll be prepared to buy one.

A financial technicality about renting medical equipment is that if you went to a nursing home then technically (after 30 days) Medicare would stop funding your rentals because the nursing home is supposed to provide equipment for you. Sometimes this isn't strictly enforced because Medicare doesn't keep track of where you are very well. A friend was discharged from a hospital to a nursing home for "rehab". The nursing home provided an ancient oxygen concentrator that sounded like an air compressor, so we replaced it with the one that had been rented for home use. That risked exceeding the 30 day period and having to pay the rental costs out-of-pocket. So one advantage of purchasing an oxygen concentrator is that you can take to wherever you reside.

If you spend nights away from home, you'll probably want a small portable unit. I don't know whether Medicare accommodates that need.

Bruce Wrenn
10-10-2016, 9:40 PM
Probably your health care provider gets apiece of the action for referals. Other wise they would give you a list of providers to shop from

Brian Tymchak
10-10-2016, 10:08 PM
They tell me my Medicare Advantage plan will pick up 80% of the cost and I have to pay 20%, which comes to $19.99 - which I will have to pay to the driver when he drop off the equipment. Then they want to know when a good time is to drop off the equipment.

Turns out the $20 a month is my part of the cost per month for a 5 year rental. I get online and see these oxygen concentrators sell for anywhere from $699 to $2500 - - so I'm paying $6000 for one?????



Assuming Medicare acts like most other medical insurance (I'm not there yet),

This is the typical game that is played by medical gear and service providers when they know an insurance plan is back there that will pick up the inflated costs. In fact, Medicare will probably pay less than $4800 and the provider will likely accept the reduced coverage. Even though you are only paying $1200 out of pocket, It still might make sense to buy one online and then file the claim with Medicare.

Check with your Medicare provider. I wouldn't take the gear providers word for what will be covered. You might end up with a nasty surprise if Medicare doesn't kick in the balance.

Kev Williams
10-10-2016, 11:13 PM
My wife has been 'renting' one for around 2 years, just to use while sleeping. $21 a month, which I felt wasn't too tough to deal with.

As for 'regular maintenance', the whole time she's used it, someone came to clean the filters twice. (Anyone who can pull the filters out of a Shark vacuum can do this)

So a few months ago the company called and said she needed to arrange for another unit as they were closing shop in our state.

I didn't want to mess with renting another one so I did some searching. I found a guy who lives about a mile from me, sells perfectly good working units he refurbishes, and he delivers. The one we got is a 5 liter Invacare, very similar to the one she'd been using. It sounds and acts identical to the other one-- even with nearly 31,000 hours on the clock.

Paid a whopping $100. If we have a problem, he'll charge $20 to come look at it, and if it's an easy fix, no extra charge. If not, he knows a guy who rebuilds them cheap. Or just buy another one. I think we got it in August, so far so good. If the thing lasts 7 months it'll still be a better deal than renting...

345561

James Baker SD
10-10-2016, 11:47 PM
I use one myself and have two: a 5ml Invacare (that used to be a rental but was refurbished by the manufacturer) and a portable 2ml Insep (that was new). Both were obtained from a medical supply company in the area that specializes in oxygen and wheel chairs (two businesses share a building). Neither was medically necessary (resting oxygen blood level was too high, but any exercise pulls me down) so I had to pay for both, but the refurb was not too bad. There are really only two main companies (my opinion) with good reputations, Invacare and SeQual (which recently purposed Airsep).

Someone mentioned travel. If you want to fly with oxygen, it has to one from an FAA approved list of models and you need a airline specific form filled out by your doctor and valid only for 12 months. Personal oxygen bottles are not allowed on aircraft, it must be a concentrator.

Larry Frank
10-11-2016, 7:12 AM
I agree with Mike about open enrollment for Medicare. I use a company that helps you find the best coverage for your situation. There is no charge. With your changes in medical usage, it would be good to take a look at what type of plan works best.