![]() A Medigy representative wrote back, thanking him, then adding that Schmidt’s machine “is doing a great job keeping your airway open.” A report detailing Schmidt’s usage was attached.Īlarmed, Schmidt complained to Medigy and learned his data was also being shared with his insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield. Then came this exchange with his supply company, Medigy: Schmidt had emailed the company to praise the “professional, kind, efficient and competent” technician who set up the device. “Congratulations! You’ve earned yourself a badge!” the email said. ![]() It was ResMed, praising him for completing his first night of therapy. But he had barely wiped the sleep out of his eyes the next morning when a peppy email arrived in his inbox. He opted out of receiving any further information. Schmidt’s privacy concerns began the day after he registered his new CPAP unit with ResMed, its manufacturer. And privacy experts worry that data collected by insurers could be used to discriminate against patients or raise their costs. The masks and hoses can be cumbersome and noisy, and studies show that about third of patients don’t use their CPAPs as directed.īut the companies’ practices have spawned lawsuits and concerns by some doctors who say that policies that restrict access to the machines could have serious, or even deadly, consequences for patients with severe conditions. Insurers say their concerns are legitimate. “The doctors and providers are not in control of medicine anymore,” said Harry Lawrence, owner of Advanced Oxy-Med Services, a New York company that provides CPAP supplies. Patients have been required to rent CPAPs at rates that total much more than the retail price of the devices, or they’ve discovered that the supplies would be substantially cheaper if they didn’t have insurance at all.Įxperts who study healthcare costs say insurers’ CPAP strategies are part of the industry’s playbook of shifting the costs of widely used therapies, devices, and tests to unsuspecting patients. In fact, faced with the popularity of CPAPs, which can cost $400 to $800, and their need for replacement filters, face masks, and hoses, health insurers have deployed a host of tactics that can make the therapy more expensive or even price it out of reach. If they aren’t, the insurers might not cover the machines or the supplies that go with them. “I couldn’t stay awake.” The CPAP, he said, saved his career, maybe even his life.Īs many CPAP users discover, the life-altering device comes with caveats: Health insurance companies are often tracking whether patients use them. Without it, Schmidt would wake up hundreds of times a night then, during the day, he’d nod off at work, sometimes while driving and even as he sat on the toilet. Like millions of people, he relies on a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine that streams warm air into his nose while he sleeps, keeping his airway open. Schmidt, 59, has sleep apnea, a disorder that causes worrisome breaks in his breathing at night. “I had no idea they were sending my information across the wire.” Schmidt, an information technology specialist from Carrollton, Texas, was shocked. Without his knowledge, it was spying on him.įrom his bedside, the device was tracking when he was using it and sending the information not just to his doctor, but to the maker of the machine, to the medical supply company that provided it, and to his health insurer. Last March, Tony Schmidt discovered something unsettling about the machine that helps him breathe at night. Somsak Bumroongwong / EyeEm reader comments 222
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