Insurance companies gouge on CPAP machines and consumables, use wireless modems to spy on your usage

Sleep apnea is a fast-growing health complaint among Americans, and that has triggered a set of deceptive and unethical measures by US health insurers to shift the cost of using CPAP machines (the forced air machines that sleep apnea patients rely on to stay healthy) to the people who use them, with the effect that it's often much cheaper to pay cash for your machine and its consumables than it is to get them through insurance.

Insurers insist that patients rent their machines rather than purchasing them, with typical costs running to $105/month; while the machines themselves can be purchased for $500. The $105/month is below the maximum deductible for the year, and that deductible resets every year, meaning that CPAP users could end up paying out of pocket forever, spending enough money to buy dozens of machines outright.

The consumables that go with the machine are also grossly overpriced: Cigna charges insured people a $25.68 co-pay for disposable filters, while paying the supplier $7.50; the accompanying mask has a $147.78 co-pay, with the supplier receiving $95. Meanwhile, both masks and filters are available online at retail costs lower than those the supplier is paid.

This all gets worse when you factor in the remote telemetry, which covertly and nonconsensually harvests your usage data and feeds it in a constant stream to your insurer; if you fail to comply with the arbitrary minimum usage guidelines (adopted from Medicare's guidelines, which were not research based or in any other way reflective of empirical study), your insurer can cut you off and stop paying anything toward your CPAP therapy. Read the rest