Georgia Man Receives Portable Oxygen Concentrator After Insurance Company Decides Oxygen Is Non-Essential

    DENVER, CO, March 19, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- 1st Class Medical made Larry Peel's Christmas wish come true on December 23rd by providing him with something that most people take for granted, oxygen. Patients with COPD and other lung ailments are reminded everyday just how precious it is. 1st Class Medical spoke with Larry right after the holiday. It was day after Christmas and he was coming off two, twelve hour shifts on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Larry is a 911 operator and holidays are just another work day for essential personnel like him, but he almost had to give up that important work because his insurance provider decided that the machine that was providing him oxygen wasn't essential and demanded that he return it.

Larry was diagnosed with COPD and Emphysema about 11 years ago and has had to use supplemental oxygen for the past 7 years. Larry is prescribed a rather high dose of oxygen and had to cart around several portable tanks. With his dosage level, tanks don't last very long and the logistics of carrying around enough cumbersome tanks and having them refilled is very difficult, not to mention exhausting, especially for someone with his condition. Because of this he often resorted to going to work or on short outings without his oxygen. While at work he tried to move around very little and not to exert himself so he wouldn't lose his breath, but as you can imagine, in a 911 dispatch room, it can sometimes get very hectic and this was extremely detrimental to his health.

Larry had a stationary concentrator to use when he was at home and in October Larry received a portable unit to use while at work or when away from home. Kaiser, his insurance provider, contacted him and told him that he had been sent the portable unit in error and that he must return it immediately. Larry filed an appeal with Kaiser, explaining that he need the portable for work as carrying 5 or 6 tanks with him to last through a ten or twelve hour shift was just not possible and going without supplemental oxygen increased his chance of heart failure and even more decreased lung function by up to 50%. Kaiser refused his request until the Insurance Commission got involved. They then decided that Larry could keep his portable but then insisted he return his home unit once again leaving him with the poor option of sometimes not using the oxygen that he had been prescribed. He knew that he wouldn't be able to sustain that for long without serious damage to his health so he feared he might have to quit his job. Without income coming in, this single dad was looking at the very real possibility of having to send his son, Stephen, 16, to live with his mom, which he felt was a less than ideal situation for Stephen. Larry could stay for a limited time with his daughter and her two children but then he wasn't sure what he would do. He was told that the process for applying to Social Security for disability was a long and often disappointing one with the majority of people being denied on their first try. It sometimes could take more than a year to get approved.

Larry then turned to his local CBS affiliate in Atlanta, CBS 46. He has started a GoFundMe account in the hopes of raising enough money to buy his own portable oxygen concentrator so that he could keep working and supporting himself and his son. Cory Luckner, one of the owners of 1st Class Medical, saw that report. As part owner of the largest distributor in the world of portable oxygen concentrators he was all too familiar with the problem of insurance companies denying patients concentrators that would provide them health benefits and independent living. "Day in and day out we see patients who could greatly benefit from a portable oxygen concentrator. Some are homebound but could easily regain their independence with a concentrator, yet insurance companies are reluctant to pay for a concentrator, although that cost pays for itself very quickly with no refill or maintenance costs. It is something we have to try to help people work through all the time." Knowing how important an experienced 911 operator is, he knew he had to do something to help. He contacted his partners and they came up with a plan to give Larry the best Christmas present possible, not only a top of the line, SeQual Equinox portable oxygen concentrator but also a stationary unit that Larry could use during his long days at work. He immediately contacted the TV station and asked to be put in touch with Larry. Minutes later, Larry was being told that his worries were over and his days of refilling and hauling around heavy tanks, or worse, going without oxygen, were over.

A couple of days later one of 1st Class Medical's other owners, Caleb Umstead, made the 5 hour drive from his office in Lake City, Florida to Larry's home in Georgia with a SeQual Eqinox and AirSep Visionaire in tow. CBS 46 was there again to cover the story. Caleb told Larry, "We thought it would be a good blessing for us to give you this so that you could stay mobile and to continue the work that you do."

Larry said that his long shifts over the holiday were much easier with his new machine. He was also happy to be able to go to the grocery store and take his time shopping. He would normally have to go in several times a week with a very short list or send Stephen around gathering things while he sat in the pharmacy and waited, trying not to use up his tank. He says, "1st Class Medical is a blessing and I can't say how much I appreciate them. I have my life back again."
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After three months with the oxygen concentrators we checked in for an update. The first words out of Larry's mouth were, "My life is so much better now that I have that concentrator. You wouldn't believe how much easier it is." Larry is now able to leave his AirSep Visionaire at work to use during his shift and use his portable at home or when he's out and about in his off hours. He said that he's even had the physical stamina and energy to work some overtime making it easier to make ends meet. He has also lost about 20 pounds since his Christmas delivery. Larry has tried to increase his exercise but he attributes his weight loss to just increased activity in general. "I think it's mostly because I'm not just sitting at home on the couch anymore." Many of the things that Larry was most excited about were things that most of us probably take for granted.

"I get to spend a lot more time with my family. I love taking my granddaughter to the playground. I got to go to my son's school on career day and talk about being a 911 operator. It's the first time I've gotten to do something like that. There's a pond near my house that they stock with fish every summer. I haven't been in awhile but I'm going to go and catch my limit. I don't have to worry about my oxygen tank running out or rolling down in the sand. I'm just getting back to living life again and I couldn't do it without this machine."

Of course insurance companies are a business and as such, their main goal is to make money. They often look at the immediate cost benefits of doing things like forcing someone to use tanks instead of a concentrator. Tanks are cheaper at the outset but quickly become expensive with refill costs. Someone with a condition like Larry's could easily use 10-12 tanks per day or upwards of 350 per month. Some patients are given refill machines but some are unable to complete the cumbersome process of filling tanks and are forced to rely on a refill service. Concentrators on the other hand, create medical grade oxygen from the ambient air and require little to no maintenance other than bi-weekly filter cleaning which can easily be done by the patient with soap and water. Perhaps Insurance companies would benefit from taking a more holistic approach to a patients care. Physical health is tied in many ways to mental health. Constant stress and worry about running out of oxygen takes its toll. Being kept from social contact or avoiding physical activity has negative effects in both the mental and physical realm. Preventing escalation or fostering improvement in a patient's condition will save the insurance company money in the long run and will provide much enhanced service to their customers so it seems that providing patients with the best possible treatment methods would be a win-win for all involved.

If you would like to learn more about how an oxygen concentrator works you can watch a short video at http://www.1stclassmed.com/videos

1st Class Medical is committed to helping patients with COPD find and obtain solutions to better their lives. They are a source for products and information to help patients treat and manage their disease.

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