After having discovered the joy of oxygen, I'll never be without it again.  I'm wondering, though, how I can get it a little cheaper.  For two M tanks and respirators Apria is charging my insurance company $760.00 a month.  I am responsible for $121.00 a month of that price.   

I know welder's tanks are an option but I have no clue how to even get started with a set up or how much that would run me.

Any advice?

Jeannie

I get my M tank through Praxair for $30/tank straight out of my pocket.
No insurance coverage what so ever, just a docs script.

Praxair is all over.  See if there is one in your area.

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If nothing else....shop around. End cost on mine for unlimited D and E tanks is $3.06 after insurance.

Hey Jeannie,

The economics of oxygen therapy are near and dear to me... as they should be to all oxygen therapy users...

Commercial gaseous oxygen sells for roughly 5 cents/liter weather you use it as a medical USP gas to abort your cluster headaches or as an industrial gas with a cutting torch burn through steel.  At 150 to 200 liters to abort the average cluster headache, that works out to $1.50 to $2.00 per abort without medical insurance...  30 to 40 cents/abort at co-pay prices.

As shocking as it may seem, home oxygen services are operated on a for profit basis... That means the companies that deliver you oxygen need to make a profit after paying for the labor, consumable oxygen and delivery costs for the oxygen contents you use.

They make an additional profit on the rental of the other durable medical equipment (DME) associated with DME Oxygen contents you use such as the regulators, cylinder caddies, and oxygen masks they deliver to you.

Typical home oxygen cylinder refill costs are $30 for each M-sized oxygen cylinder and $20 for each E-sized cylinder.  As labor is a cost driver and labor costs are about the same to refill an M-size cylinder as an E-size cylinder, you're obviously better off using the larger M-size cylinder that holds 3995 liters than and E-size cylinder that holds 708 liters of oxygen.

At a 20% insurance copay, the M-size oxygen cylinder refill should cost you $6...  I'm chronic and average 3 attacks a day/24 hrs so burn through 3 M-size oxygen cylinders a month for a total monthly cost of $18 or an annual cost of $216.

In other words, buy your own regulator and mask...  CH.com sells the O2PTIMASK for $27.50 and you can buy a good 25 liter/minute oxygen regulator for under $50 or a great 60 liter/minute regulator for less than $190.

Do the math...

Take care,

V/R, Batch

I pay for it myself at Lincare for $10 a tank, delivered.