That's the invisible hand of the free market taking care of you!
The free market is simply incompatible with health care. Imagine a world where, any time you have a life-threatening health problem, you can expect to transfer everything you own to the hospital, since they have perfect leverage over you.
In medicine, you tend to need very specific treatments. This means the set of potential suppliers is much lower, which essentially means the supply is restricted. If you won't sell me an epi-pen for less than 100 dollars, there aren't a lot of places I can turn to. Moreover it's not like open-heart surgery is going to work.
Besides, some procedures are just actually expensive. Open-heart surgery takes a lot of labor, organ transplants require intense logistics. Dialysis is a complex and repetitive procedure. The 'fair price' for these in the economic sense is still high. Way to high for most people's morality.
Should people really have to chose between death and the bankruptcy of their entire family? Because in a functioning free market, it is near essential that some people have demand for something they can't pay for. So if we turn dialysis, heart surgery, etc. into free markets, there are going to be people who need those treatments that cannot pay for them.
Isn't that exactly what happens now?
Would you tell the people that needed epipens "well just have some paracetamol instead".
There are other examples, such as complex surgeries that would illustrate the point you're trying to make better.
Perhaps the rhetoric of free-market-can-solve-everything Libertarians, the get-the-government-out-of-my-health-care Republicans, and the healthcare-is-a-human-right Democrats are all co-opted by America's crony capitalism and we get... this.
If anyone else is in the same boat, please check with your provider first. It may not be that expensive and in some cases there are even discounts – not because they care about you, but because treating the conditions that sleep apnea causes is so much more expensive.
I met a sleep study technician who, though convinced he actually has sleep apnea himself, said he could not afford a CPAP. Because he scrapes a living together by working as a temporary contractor for two different local sleep clinics, he does not have health insurance.
It's not like I can't afford to pay either, I do have some money stashed in my HSA but when I'm trying to get to a point where I have a full years deductible in it to cover a true emergency it's a bit of a gut punch to suddenly take $X00-$1X00 out to wear a device and then have a technician analyze the data from it.
All of this is why my first step right now is to keep losing weight, because I know weighing 230lbs as a 5'10" male isn't helping me at all either.
Then your doctor will prescribe auto-cpap therapy. Hopefully health insurance defers some of the cost, but in any case it shouldn't be ruinous for someone with an HSA. You can get a Phillips Dreamstation off Amazon for $620.
Please go get tested.
Edit- Sorry didn't see this exact comment below, so I concur
https://www.secondwindcpap.com/
Or you can sell it if it doesn't help you.
If it's an auto-adjusting machine, then you don't need the sleep technician either. You can just start at a lower pressure and look at your data and then see if you need more.
If you are a bit adventurous, go on Craigslist and buy a used one with a new mask for like $100. You probably are a Large mask size.
Figure out how to adjust it and try it for a few days. Keep a written record of how you feel. See if it helps. Starting at 6 of whatever the unit is will probably be a good starting point.
The only annoying bit is replacing the masks and headgear - they’re considered prescription medical devices, so you have to exploit a loophole in that they are only covered under the RX requirement when purchased as a set. So, I have to buy a mask on one order, and the headgear on another.
It’s a pain in the ass and I’m more than a little bit peeved that I have to beg for permission for this quality of life improvement.
Amazon won't sell you full mask sets, you have to buy the frame/cushion/headgear/tubing separately and put it together yourself. Usully at a very inflated markup.. recently had to pay $100 for a replacement frame after one of the headgear hooks snapped off of my F10.
Other CPAP companies online won't even talk to you without a prescription on file.
Weight gain is a symptom of untreated sleep apnea, so you should consider whether you're doing this in the right order.
The market can solve many of these. I've looked at CPAP machines. I've spent more on a guitar. You don't need your insurer or the government to clear your purchase of such a machine.
It's like ordering pet meds in the US. I know what flea med to purchase. I don't need a vet prescription. Sites I've visited in the US say I do, so I buy from Canada. Cat's are not dead.
The biggest difference in my sleep came from when I purchased a machine that auto adjusts based on what you need, so no one could lock me out from getting the best healthcare possible.