Guide
Are CPAP machines and supplies covered?
Covered for diagnosed sleep apnea — with a use-it-or-lose-it condition most people only hear about after it has cost them. The shape of the rule.
The short answer
Yes. Medicare covers CPAP therapy for obstructive sleep apnea diagnosed by a sleep study, with a face-to-face evaluation documenting your symptoms. Commercial plans and Medicare Advantage follow broadly similar shapes with their own paperwork.
The machine typically starts as a rental. The supplies — masks, cushions, tubing, filters, humidifier chambers — are covered separately, each on a replacement schedule set by your plan.
The condition people miss
Coverage of the machine is conditional on you actually using it. Plans require documented use during an initial period, and a follow-up visit with your physician showing the therapy is helping. Modern machines record usage automatically — the data is not optional and the follow-up is not a formality.
Why the supply schedule exists
Cushions go soft and leak, filters clog, tubing degrades, chambers scale up. The therapy quietly stops working before anything looks broken, which is why plans cover replacement on a schedule rather than on failure. The schedules differ by plan and by part — we track yours and contact you when each item is due, so you are not working it out yourself. What gets replaced and when →
What we do about it
Related
About this guide
This is general information written to be useful, not medical advice, and it is not a coverage determination. It does not replace what your own clinician has told you about your own situation — where the two differ, follow your clinician.
We deliberately publish no prices, allowables or fee-schedule figures. Those vary by plan, state and year, and a stale number is worse than none. Call (800) 304-7030 and we will verify your actual benefit.
Not sure where to start?
Call us and tell us what happened — a surgery, a new diagnosis, a discharge date, a supply you keep running out of. We will tell you what is usually needed, check your benefits, and ask your prescriber for the order if you do not have one yet.