[HN Gopher] Insurers snooping users of CPAP breathing machines
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       Insurers snooping users of CPAP breathing machines
        
       Author : throwaway743
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2022-09-09 21:31 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bitdefender.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bitdefender.com)
        
       | throwaway743 wrote:
       | Didn't realize this was a thing until hearing today that my
       | parents were visited yesterday by people that I'm assuming are
       | either from their pharmacy or insurance. They were told that the
       | machine is remotely monitored and that these their org noticed
       | that my parent who uses the machine wasn't sleeping 4 hours
       | straight at a time and that 4 hours straight is a requirement in
       | order for the machine to qualify as "doing its job". As a result,
       | they took this machine away from them even though it's a medical
       | necessity for my parent.
       | 
       | The negligence alone is disgusting, but this is also next level
       | absurdity/surveillance.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | 6stringmerc wrote:
       | ...and people voluntarily hand over blood samples and other PHI
       | to company "wellness" programs for mediocre financial gain and
       | gigantic downsides?
       | 
       | Oh, wait, in the US it's a thing. Why? Because it's political /
       | market suicide to simply charge obese people more as a general
       | principle. It might be legal-ish with enough effort, but this was
       | easier. Raise rates on everybody, discount the info donors...I
       | mean...employees some money.
        
       | squarefoot wrote:
       | I was recently "awarded" a ResMed AirSense 10 Autoset, which I
       | already am in love with for the great help I'm getting from it:
       | no more apnea and I also stopped snoring. Essentially it's the
       | best gift my soon to be wife could receive:)
       | 
       | My situation is a bit different as thanks to public healthcare
       | it's assigned to me without any insurance involved (I paid it
       | with my taxes decades ago), which however doesn't mean I'd want
       | my data to be read by others except my doctor. I therefore send
       | my data over email to the doctor, and don't use any modem
       | connection, app or proprietary software to read its data. The
       | tendency to spy on patients is scary, although we should be
       | prepared: spying on people using devices that connect to the
       | Internet happens regularly in many other contexts, especially
       | when money is involved, so why should we think medical devices
       | would be any different? To me, the rule is: if it is closed and
       | goes online, then it will spy on me.
       | 
       | For those interested, data can be read and analyzed easily using
       | the (FOSS) software OSCAR: https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
       | 
       | I also took a look at EDFBrowser (also FOSS) which unfortunately
       | doesn't support the type of EDF format used by that machine as it
       | often complains about 8 or more bit chars in place of 7 bit ones,
       | or something like that. https://www.teuniz.net/edfbrowser/
        
       | poisonbug wrote:
       | This happened to me as well. When I received my first CPAP
       | machine there was a mechanical issue with one of the components.
       | The replacement device got lost in the mail twice, and therefore
       | I didn't meet my insurances 4-hour/night minimum required to keep
       | the device, and I was now financially responsible for paying for
       | the device if I wanted to keep it -- despite my doctor saying I
       | need it.
       | 
       | I had to fight tooth and nail with my insurance, the CPAP
       | supplier, and the third party that manages the monitoring of the
       | device for my insurance. I was spending 5-10 hours per week for
       | more than five months trying to get this issue resolved,
       | including getting payments sent to creditors recalled. In
       | hindsight, I should've hired a lawyer to deal with it.
       | 
       | It required my doctor to write a note and personally have a phone
       | call with the insurance to explain the situation before they
       | promised to give me a "second chance to reach the 4-hour/night
       | requirements". Even after that I had to play middleman with
       | multiple companies and become an advocate for myself to get the
       | health care I needed despite already having top-tier insurance.
        
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       (page generated 2022-09-09 23:01 UTC)