Nabulizing time

@sayaboleh I hate to be vague, but it is through my former employer, thus not available to the general public. We pay a heavy premium to continue to have it along with our Medicare Parts A & B, but it covers most of our copays so is cost-effective for us.

With the confusion people have regarding decimal points and saline, I am nearly positive that Foundation Health has 0.9% saline, not the higher concentration. I have never seen vials of 9% saline solution anywhere, and a search for "9.0% saline solution" returns ONLY 0.9% saline, whether in vial or bottles.

@lilianna no, after using the saline, it takes a while for the saline to work. Usually about an hour later, I can feel the mucus loosening, so that's when I go downstairs and use my an inversion board

@vstankie thank you for responding. I only wonder if it’s in the morning when you have breakfast. It’s a trivial question but for us struggling with keeping weight it’s important

@sueinmn
You're right - missing decimal point. I think it confuses a lot of folks, even the Physician assistant I saw at Stanford who tried to prescribe it to me. He probably saw it somewhere with the missing decimal point.
Just to rant a bit more, I think it absurd that a relatively low cost item that should clearly be covered requires us to understand the arcane world of medicare coding and then try and convince the poor overworked pharmacy staff to put the right codes in the right place. How did it get that way?
Mary

@cressida92 Mine is .9% saline and levalbuteral 2x day with aerobika. I hate that aerokika! But it is all helping a lot. Best wishes.

@sayaboleh You asked "Just to rant a bit more, I think it absurd that a relatively low cost item... How did it get that way?"
I am old enough to remember when NO prescriptions were covered by my Dad's health insurance, and later my own when I was first working. As a kid I remember them all being "put on the books" at the pharmacy, and Dad stopped to pay the bill on payday. And we always had an open bill at the doctors' offices, paid so much a month, we covered 100% of cost, not just a co-pay.

So I may view things a bit differently then most, but to me insurance of all kinds is really meant to cover "extraordinary" or catastrophic costs, not everything from the first dollar. The "no cost to me" mentality is part of what is driving the enormous cost of insurance - with no "skin in the game" people don't think twice about opting for new or name brand, high cost drugs over older medications or generics that could be just as effective. And with no cost for office calls, people seek care for things that have been treated successfully at home by Mom or Grandma for many generations.

Okay, off my soapbox. But if a relatively low cost but uncovered drug (and saline solution technically isn't really a drug, which is why there is a hassle with Medicare) will help me, I'll pay for it myself. To be honest, I was surprised when my pharmacist got my insurer to pay for it after I had been out-of-pocket for a couple of years.