Discussions

Anyone notice the price increases on the cpap supplies now that Manitoba does not pay for them? Noted online I can buy the identical mask for $60 US$ vs $240 CDN here. Want to support local but a difference that large is hard to ignore.

Effective April 23, 2018 the Province on Manitoba only pays $500 towards the cost of the machine and nothing for supplies. Copy of CBC article here. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sleep-apnea-cpap-funding-1.4566574

I bought my mask locally for 136. Online in Canada was almost same price. Online USD was lowest 80-90 I found. By the time I convert to CAD and shipping it will cost me more. I guess it all depends what you are buying.

The Canadian site I look at has sales every so often on stuff. There are $200+ masks going for the low $100's.

Terrible for our :provincial government to discontinue paying for supplies such are needed for people to keep breathing through the night.  
 
Sad that the province are willing to dish out 50 dollars overdose kits to anyone that needs them, friends or family.

from someone who worked at a CPAP clinic I can understand why they made that decision. The amount of "free" stuff people were given when they averaged less than 30 days usage of their machine in a 365 day period was ridiculous. It's unfortunate for the people who do actually utilize their machines on a daily basis for sure but definitely understandable considering how much money was going to waste

Sending you a pm.

I agree that it was a bad move on the Province's part to stop funding this necessary medical equipment but if there was waste due to people not even using them then there could have been checks and balances implemented. My machine sends stats every night so one can easily see how much I use it.  
 
Anyway, I was happy to find out my private health insurance covered a portion of the cost of new supplies.  
 
Province needs to realize that if people do not replace the mask and tube regularly, and they break down and get dirty and can cause a host of other infections....that the healthcare system has to now look after. But hey, why be preventative?

I bought my machines on line for 1/4 the price my family bought theirs from local shops. I looked at their machines that required the pressure to be set and dependent on the shop to set it and had the province pay for the original machines. Forget the old tech and just buy better. You know the on line companies are making a profit just how can they sell it for 1/4 the price of local. really it is still our tax dollars paying those over inflated prices. My brother pays 200+ local and I paid 89 cdn on line for same mask. explain why the local company would need the difference in price. my machine is auto and I can download the clinic manual on line as well not that complex a process and when I download sleepyhead I can learn about my own sleep patterns.

https://www.sleepeh.ca/ is where I bought my last mask. It was $50 cheaper than local price for the particular mask I use.  
 
Edited by cdn1pat, 2019-12-19 22:04:22