[Guest]

What is wrong with this picture. I have slept in lab. I have been wired up strapped up, pasted, scrubbed raw and pugged in like a car STEREO, not once but twice. Wired from my ankles to the top of my head. Diagnosed with OSA only to find medicare will not pay for the equiptment recommended to treat my problem....Any comments or suggestions welcome...

Frazzled

[Guest]

This is a huge problem. Medicares requirements for sleep apnea were written in about 1984 I believe and have not changed. There definition is outdated and does not acknowlege the existence of hypopneas (which are decreased but not total absence of airflow like apneas) physiologically they both cause sleep deprivation and cause you to be tired. Yet, on the form to get the cpap from medicare they only ask for apneas. If the physician puts down how many hypopneas they are commiting fraud according to medicare and are subject to huge fines and possible criminal prosecution. This is on of the most frustrating things I deal with. I wish I had an answer. I suggest you write your congressman and senator and tell them the problem. That's the only way it's going to change. Sometimes your physician can work with one of the home care companies that provide cpap and get a reconditioned machine at a very reasonable price.
[quote] What is wrong with this picture. I have slept in lab... [/quote]