Monday, November 13, 2006
Medical Politics
Owing to a doctor's order that my father needed daily whirlpool treatments on his leg, it was arranged to rent a unit that was supposed to fit on the bathtub. For this we were being charged $35 a month. The company that delivered the unit was Duramed Homecare Services out of Duarte Cailfornia. I mention them by name because I think it is important to let you know there are companies who make their money by cheating people.
After the unit arrived and it was determined owing to space limitations that using this unit would be very difficult as no one could get their feet into the tub once it was in place, nor could someone with a walker (which both of my parents use unless they are in their wheelchairs) get past the unit to use the toilet. All around a pretty unsatisfactory situation. Yes we could take it off and put it on when it was needed, however, having all tile floors this would sometimes mean taking something dripping wet across normal pathways. The water dripping (if I were to miss even one spot) would become for a short time a slipping hazard.
There are enough slipping hazards with tile floors and in the world in general, it seems unnecessary to create more. Because of this, I started doing some research and to my shock and dismay I learned this pollenex unit only cost $35 to buy outright. So, per month we were paying the same amount as a new unit would cost to buy for a used unit. My anger mounted when I started reading the customer reviews for the unit they had sent out. They were all bad. Not one review liked this unit enough to say they were going to keep it. The kindest one said it was way too loud, not powerful enough and they were taking it back in the morning.
I found a Conair model that was pretty much a better unit even on the face of the description. Instead of just stirring the water around, you could aerate the water by adding bubbles, it had two jets instead of one outlet, heck, it even had a mood light... the price? $45. After a brief consultation with Dad, I ordered one. When it arrived, I was very pleased to discover that the entire unit hung on the inside of the bathtub solving the constant moving of the unit, it had removable filters for cleaning, (the pollenex one required taking the whole unit, turning it over, scrubbing a mesh screen that never quite looked like you were getting it all). All in all this new unit out performed the old one 100 times better and easier.
When I called Duramed to have them come pick up their rental unit, I asked them about how they justified charging the same price as the whole unit could be purchased for as a monthly rental. At first they wanted to know if I had found somewhere renting them for less.. I did not answer that, I pointed out that you could buy the unit outright for the same price they were charging per month and was asked who had ordered the unit to begin with. I said the doctor and was told, the doctor should have told you you can look around to see what you can find...
I at this point realized there was not much point in talking to them about extortioners charges and said something to the effect of, I guess you don't care that you are cheating people, just have someone pick this up at the earliest possible time.
I am not quite done with Duramed. I will be investigating who called them to use them in the first place, as I want to make sure it is widely known they overcharge for rentals. If a device has an expected life of 3 months before it needs replacing, then perhaps I could see them charging $15 a month to insure profit. I think the expected life on this kind of a device is more like a year or more, which certainly does not justify the extortionist pricing.
It is probably just as well that this equipment rental was not covered by medicare, as that would have meant the extortion was well over the price of the unit if our part was the price of the unit. It would not have been the first time I called medicare about them being over billed. If more people took the time to do this, medicare might not be in the shape it is in, and there might not be more and more cuts to benefits before some of us paying for it get old enough to use them.
After the unit arrived and it was determined owing to space limitations that using this unit would be very difficult as no one could get their feet into the tub once it was in place, nor could someone with a walker (which both of my parents use unless they are in their wheelchairs) get past the unit to use the toilet. All around a pretty unsatisfactory situation. Yes we could take it off and put it on when it was needed, however, having all tile floors this would sometimes mean taking something dripping wet across normal pathways. The water dripping (if I were to miss even one spot) would become for a short time a slipping hazard.
There are enough slipping hazards with tile floors and in the world in general, it seems unnecessary to create more. Because of this, I started doing some research and to my shock and dismay I learned this pollenex unit only cost $35 to buy outright. So, per month we were paying the same amount as a new unit would cost to buy for a used unit. My anger mounted when I started reading the customer reviews for the unit they had sent out. They were all bad. Not one review liked this unit enough to say they were going to keep it. The kindest one said it was way too loud, not powerful enough and they were taking it back in the morning.
I found a Conair model that was pretty much a better unit even on the face of the description. Instead of just stirring the water around, you could aerate the water by adding bubbles, it had two jets instead of one outlet, heck, it even had a mood light... the price? $45. After a brief consultation with Dad, I ordered one. When it arrived, I was very pleased to discover that the entire unit hung on the inside of the bathtub solving the constant moving of the unit, it had removable filters for cleaning, (the pollenex one required taking the whole unit, turning it over, scrubbing a mesh screen that never quite looked like you were getting it all). All in all this new unit out performed the old one 100 times better and easier.
When I called Duramed to have them come pick up their rental unit, I asked them about how they justified charging the same price as the whole unit could be purchased for as a monthly rental. At first they wanted to know if I had found somewhere renting them for less.. I did not answer that, I pointed out that you could buy the unit outright for the same price they were charging per month and was asked who had ordered the unit to begin with. I said the doctor and was told, the doctor should have told you you can look around to see what you can find...
I at this point realized there was not much point in talking to them about extortioners charges and said something to the effect of, I guess you don't care that you are cheating people, just have someone pick this up at the earliest possible time.
I am not quite done with Duramed. I will be investigating who called them to use them in the first place, as I want to make sure it is widely known they overcharge for rentals. If a device has an expected life of 3 months before it needs replacing, then perhaps I could see them charging $15 a month to insure profit. I think the expected life on this kind of a device is more like a year or more, which certainly does not justify the extortionist pricing.
It is probably just as well that this equipment rental was not covered by medicare, as that would have meant the extortion was well over the price of the unit if our part was the price of the unit. It would not have been the first time I called medicare about them being over billed. If more people took the time to do this, medicare might not be in the shape it is in, and there might not be more and more cuts to benefits before some of us paying for it get old enough to use them.
