Inogen portable oxygen concentrator

[Dave Lehnert]

Anyone have experience with the Inogen portable oxygen concentrator. (or any other brand) Just know them from the ads on TV.

My mom in her 90's is on Oxygen. Portable tanks are not very ideal on taking a road trip over night.
They advertise little to no cost with Medicare and private insurance.
Before I stir up a salesman wondering if anyone went through the process purchasing one, what was your experience. Is it user friendly etc...
Is there a problem purchasing one when you have a contract through an oxygen co for a home concentrator and portable tanks? The company we use now is not very good helping one out. They kinda get the job done but you have to ask everything. Hard to do when you dont know the questions to ask.

[Jim Becker]

I can't answer about the unit specifically, but I will say that I suspect there may be an insurance challenge with having two solutions for essentially the same purpose paid for. There may or may not be a need to replace the portable bottle solution with the small, portable concentrator. It sure would be nice if the current provider would step up and provide advice on this. What you don't want to happen is for the current arrangement to get screwed up. I had that happen when switching my mother's O2 providers when she was still alive.

[Dave Lehnert]

I can't answer about the unit specifically, but I will say that I suspect there may be an insurance challenge with having two solutions for essentially the same purpose paid for. There may or may not be a need to replace the portable bottle solution with the small, portable concentrator. It sure would be nice if the current provider would step up and provide advice on this. What you don't want to happen is for the current arrangement to get screwed up. I had that happen when switching my mother's O2 providers when she was still alive.

Me too. I asked our oxygen co about switching and said I could at any time but remembered something about a 5 year contract. The reason I called. When I called the new place I want to go with they said it was a Medicare thing with the 5 years and no I could not switch till the 5 years is up. We ended up with our oxygen co we have now because the hospital recommended them and did not know if the new co I want to go with took Medicare. It was on a Sunday and being discharged that day so did not have time to investigate.
I have a time getting oxygen tanks. They will not deliver unless someone is home for a signature. They will only deliver on Tuesday, I tried delivery at work but they delivered late in the day after quitting time so that did not work. The shop is located on the other side of town and not open on weekends.
The new company is located between work and home and that is only 3 miles apart. Stopping in to swap tanks would be so easy.

[Jim Becker]

"Locked in" doesn't sound promising...darn...

[Bill Dufour]

FYI: an oxygen concentrator only provides enough oxygen to run a micro torch. Think jewelers torch to solder a ring.
Bill D

[Bruce Wrenn]

Have you researched the "Used" market. Friend's wife died, and within 48 hours, someone known to them had bought her unit. Just a thought.

[Brian Elfert]

If medical equipment is offered on TV then the equipment is probably really cheaply made to leave money to advertise. Much of the time insurers, including Medicare, paying a fixed price for all equipment in a category. All oxygen concentrators that meet the same specs will be paid for at the same rate. The suppliers want to pay the least they can for equipment to make the most profit.

Rather than go to a supplier that advertises on TV I would go to a local durable medical equipment supplier (AKA a DME). They all know how to deal with Medicare as a large percentage of medical equipment is sold to folks over 65. Any city of any decent size should have one or more DMEs. There are a couple of dozen at least in my area.

[Mike Henderson]

My wife had a lung disease and was on oxygen for several years - she passed away about 11 years ago.

We had an oxygen concentrator at home with a very long tube so that she could move around the house. Had a problem with the cat chewing on it

The company who supplied us was good. My wife pretty much was tied to the house so delivery of bottles was not a problem. Larger bottles, which last longer, are heavier. They offered a portable oxygen concentrator but when my wife had to go to the doctor's, I was with her so I could carry the bottles. Even a good portable oxygen concentrator can have battery issues - the battery only lasts for a certain time and they wouldn't give us the portable concentrator and oxygen bottles - it was one or the other. For someone who needs oxygen the thought of having the unit fail - or running out of oxygen in a bottle - is pretty scary. I always had an extra bottle.

Good luck on your search.

Mike

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm on oxygen 7x24.
I have the Inogen 4 that you see on TV.

Medicare does NOT cover the cost of one about 99% of the time. That drives me nuts when I hear that on TV because it's not true.
It all depends on the medical supply house that rents you the oxygen equipment & supplies you with the portable equipment.
99% of the suppliers will give you bottled oxygen for a portable solution since that's cheaper for them than it is to buy an expensive portable unit.

Medicare will only pay X amount of dollars to the medical house for your monthly prescription (which is your in home concentrator & your portable solution), so, they (the provider) go with the cheapest thing for them.
Since the .gov is involved - you can't just simply pay more and pay the difference between a monthly lease of a portable and the less expensive bottled air. Trust me, I trie to go that way & you can't do it. Feel free to try with your supplier though.

The portable units are what are known as "pulse" units. They deliver the oxygen in small measured doses only when you breathe in - unlike the large concentrators or bottled air.

Figure your out of pocket expense to be around $4000 - all told.

- the supplied battery will give you about 15 minutes run time on setting 3. The most oxygen. A larger capacity battery will give you about 30 minutes run time on setting 3. Batteries run about $500. (yes that's $500 not a mistake)
On setting 1 - the lowest - the standard battery will deliver about an hour of run time. The larger battery about 2 hours.
My unit required me to have two large and one small battery for a 5 hour flight from Cleveland to Phoenix.
- a battery charger runs about $150. They supply a cord though for you to plug it in to a power outlet in a vehicle or a wall outlet, but, you'll need at least one other charger so you can charge multiple batteries.
- I'm on my third one. My first one was a DOA. It didn't run right out of the box. My 2nd one died after about 6 months. I had to pay a $50 fee to have it shipped to me under warranty. The will ship it free under warranty, but, you have to send them the broken one first & they have to check it out. If/when they determine it's covered, they will ship out the replacement. That whole process can take between 4 and 6 weeks.
- the air columns need replaced every so often & they quit without any warning. You need to pack a spare set since the unit will shut down without any warning. There is no way of telling when they need replaced. Mine lasted nearly two years - other people say theirs lasted only 6 months and others yet, where somewhere in the middle.

- the doctor is the one that determines what a person needs as far as oxygen goes. The amount of oxygen required to maintain an 89% or better blood oxygen level will determine how many liters are needed.
I'm on 3 liters right now & my portable will not supply enough - even on the highest setting.
I had to lose about 50 pounds so my breathing would improve enough for me to get the prescription to buy the Inogen 4. (the one on TV).
Speaking of which - the Inogen 4 - the one on TV - was the most advanced portable, with the longest battery run time you could buy for several years. There were other portable units, but, they were huge, they would only huge and had a very short battery life. Plus they only supplied half the oxygen the Inogen delivers.

If you want, I can PM you my cell number and I can answer any questions.
Sorry if this jumps around so much - this is a very complicated matter & there's a whole lot to consider.

[Jerome Stanek]

You may want to check if the unit is a pulse or continuous flow. My sister in law had both and she had trouble getting use to the pulse unit and the puff was a little loud.

[Rich Engelhardt]

All portables are pulse. Or - I should say they were a few years ago when I bought my Inogen G4

I should also mention here - I spent some time reading what's current as far as units go.
There's been a lot of hardware improvements over the last three/four years.

I don't know if the Medicare situation has improved any or not. I just pay my fee for the stationary unit & bottles, and use my portable as a backup or if the situation calls for it.

[Dan Hunkele]

I use the Inogen. I bought it on Ebay. They were plentiful and cheap until Covid-19 took hold. Mine works well and I get about 4 hours run time on the larger battery at the 3 liter setting. I have extra batteries to extend time away but also carry a tank in case of failure.

[Kev Williams]

Five year contract sounds a little greedy IMO...
My wife's been on an oxygenator for sleeping use for about 8 years. Since it was 'recommended' rather than 'absolutely necessary' medicare wouldn't cover it. We were able to rent a home oxygenator by the month, wasn't any contract needed- After 3 years of $20 or so a month I decided to see if I could do better...

Found a local guy who runs a medical supply place who refurbishes the things, sold us this one for $100, even delivered it:
02c.jpg
pic is dated October 2016, it had 30,672 hours on it,
I just checked, it's now reading 46,433. No issues. Still works like new, hasn't lost any output or got any louder. I clean the filters maybe once a year. $100 well spent

As to Inogen or other portables, all I know about them is my (late) neighbor looked into them but none could supply enough 02... seems they need a bit 'more work' -?

[Jerome Stanek]

All portables are pulse. Or - I should say they were a few years ago when I bought my Inogen G4

I should also mention here - I spent some time reading what's current as far as units go.
There's been a lot of hardware improvements over the last three/four years.

I don't know if the Medicare situation has improved any or not. I just pay my fee for the stationary unit & bottles, and use my portable as a backup or if the situation calls for it.

There are constant flow portables out there here are some. SeQual Eclipse 5, Respironics Simply Go, SeQual Eclipse and the Devilbiss iGo.

[Derek Meyer]

My mother-in-law just got a new portable, as she dropped her last one and broke it. Her new one is a Resperonic, and my wife (who is her primary caregiver) says that the battery in the new machine will last her about 10 hours. She usually plugs it in when she's in the car, and she has a large unit for when she is home, but she likes that they can go places for several hours without worrying about running the battery down. The unit she has now cost her about $3000.