So I've had the Vest model 104 since 1998 and heard about the lovely model 103 through this site. I called The Vest company and asked them about getting the new model because it sounds great. I was surprised when she said she'd check to see if I qualified. Upon asking her what this was all about she told me that this checks to see if my Vest was paid for. I qualified.
She went on to explain a trade in program where they take my old model 104 and refurb. it if necessary and give it to people that don' t have insurance that cover the Vest. They give my insurance company a break of 10K and only charge them 6K. Now the thing is they do this because they want to help convince the insurance company to 'appove' the coverage because it's not really a 'medical necessity' to upgrade from the 104 to the 103 because it functions the same as the 104 merely just a size and weight difference (major difference in my mind!). The Vest Company doesn't actually help all that much with the insurance / dr.'s notes etc. anymore like they used to. I told her it didn't matter because I have different insurance - meaning a new insurance policy... a new Vest, right? It's not like my new insurance could know I have a Vest could they? Isn't that sort of info. protected under HIPAA? I told her to send me the trade-in packet and also to send me a packet as if I were a new patient to the Vest. She thought I was crazy but you have to know that I have changed insurance 3 times since '98 so why does my current insurance need to reap rewards of some other insurance's payment for the Vest which I think was more like 25K back then. Make sense? I'm not all about screwing the insurance companies don't get me wrong. The fact is I've found them all about screwing me and if I come to my insurance with a request for something I don't already have they are more likely to cover it than say going to them wanting the 'travel' version of this or that DME. I have had some good and some bad experiences getting portable air compressors covered through various insurance companies so this has left me sour. I actually am in the process of getting a trek (with a back up plan of another Pro Neb if they reject my request which I halfway expect) so I guess that will give me a indicator of how they view portable DME. By the way, I plan to give my old Vest to someone who doesn't have insurance to cover it so that's not the issue at all.
My question to you all is has anyone had any experience on this subject of Vest model 103 insurance coverage - trade-in vs. newbie? or knowledge of HIPAA laws to do with this? thoughts on the subject?
She went on to explain a trade in program where they take my old model 104 and refurb. it if necessary and give it to people that don' t have insurance that cover the Vest. They give my insurance company a break of 10K and only charge them 6K. Now the thing is they do this because they want to help convince the insurance company to 'appove' the coverage because it's not really a 'medical necessity' to upgrade from the 104 to the 103 because it functions the same as the 104 merely just a size and weight difference (major difference in my mind!). The Vest Company doesn't actually help all that much with the insurance / dr.'s notes etc. anymore like they used to. I told her it didn't matter because I have different insurance - meaning a new insurance policy... a new Vest, right? It's not like my new insurance could know I have a Vest could they? Isn't that sort of info. protected under HIPAA? I told her to send me the trade-in packet and also to send me a packet as if I were a new patient to the Vest. She thought I was crazy but you have to know that I have changed insurance 3 times since '98 so why does my current insurance need to reap rewards of some other insurance's payment for the Vest which I think was more like 25K back then. Make sense? I'm not all about screwing the insurance companies don't get me wrong. The fact is I've found them all about screwing me and if I come to my insurance with a request for something I don't already have they are more likely to cover it than say going to them wanting the 'travel' version of this or that DME. I have had some good and some bad experiences getting portable air compressors covered through various insurance companies so this has left me sour. I actually am in the process of getting a trek (with a back up plan of another Pro Neb if they reject my request which I halfway expect) so I guess that will give me a indicator of how they view portable DME. By the way, I plan to give my old Vest to someone who doesn't have insurance to cover it so that's not the issue at all.
My question to you all is has anyone had any experience on this subject of Vest model 103 insurance coverage - trade-in vs. newbie? or knowledge of HIPAA laws to do with this? thoughts on the subject?