DOT Physical: Forced to do Sleep Study

I know that this is something coming around the corner and will probably be standard part of your DOT Physical. My experience though on this is after having done the DOT physical and issued a 2yr Medical Card. Nothing ever was mentioned at the clinic about a sleep study. My problem I had was being told to sign a form that I had to have it done in the next 60 days as a condition of my being hired at "said company". Never had neck taped or discussed with Doctor. So now I can go get this test done on my own and pay out of my own pocket or I can use one of the companies 4 facilities that they now own for the test. If I do have it (which I don't) I'd have to purchase the machine only then. How freakin convient of you to have these at my disposal. Not to mention since I live in Florida my medical is already combined with my licenses so I would have to deal with the outcome of this anywhere I go since it would show up for every future employer I went to. So I say its good and its bad. Going to make having a driving job very difficult to keep I think just give it time.

 

You can always work on your BMI. There is way to many "sweat pants" truckers. You have 2 years to lose weight.

 

I'm working on mine. It was kind a high when I got my physical in December.

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Contact OOIDA and ask for what help they can provide.OOIDA IS THE VOICE OF THE DRIVER to our government officials and membership is open to everyone.

 

Another carrier that is requiring drivers with a BMI 35 or over to do a sleep apnea test is Pride Transport out of Salt Lake City...They only give you a 3 month DOT card, they offer to take out $75 a weekout of your check to be put in an escrow for a total of $750.00 which goes towards the study, equipment etc and they have chosen a place for you which Pride has said is at a discount price. If you decide to go that route, then be prepared to buy cuz they will say you have sl;eep apnea and on top of it, the invertor is one they choose for you to use, cost is $600 on that so total cost out of drivers pocket is $1600.00. Again, I argued this, I had my current insurance approve it from a referrel from primary Doctor and was found not to have sleep apnea! This fraudulant act needs to be addressed by an attorney and action needs taken before it gets out of hand! Oh, one other thing...Pride does not force you to use the sleep study outfit they recommend but tell you that it will save you money! Pride covers 500.00 in total and thats on the machine...$750 for test..$250 for equipment and$ 600 for invertor, all on the driver...If Pride wants tests done and requires it, they should have to pay for it themselves!

 

Yes, they should have to pay for it themselves, since there is no mandate in the regulations for sleep apnea testing. This is purely carrier driven. Sure, FMCSA is eye balling the issue pretty intensely, but there are no regulatory standards as for determining need for testing, only suggestions. Carriers are taking this upon themselves either to play political correct games with government or to placate some insurance concerns. But it is their choice and they should pay if they want to pursue that route. The question is whether they stated any of this up front with the drivers. Seems like an enterprising lawyer could have a field day with this one if drivers wanted to fight it all, at least from a cost standpoint. The carrier can require all it wants. But forcing a driver to pay for it, is quite another thing.

There is a course of action called civlil litigation. It might not be hard to prove that extortion and racketeering are involved in some of this. The medical community, in its never ending search for conditions they can milk, convince carriers to do these things. They do so with the leverage of the insurance carriers that sleep apnea is an issue. The carrier makes the deal with a particular medical facility and physicians, probably a quid pro quo deal that lines both of their pockets. At the expense of the driver. Would make for an interesting Law and Order episode.

 

I'm sure there is going to be a lot of that going on Cowpie1. I mean look at it especially now since FMCSA is going to require physicians to be "certified" to give DOT physicals around the corner here soon. I just don't think its fair and really stinks. They want to kick out all the unhealthy and overweight drivers from the industry rather than fix the source of the problem from what I see. I see so many truck stops that offer the "healthy" choice but it will cost you twice as much. Yet, on the flip of the coin there selling 2/ $3 king size candy and sodas like its going out of style everyday. I'm not trying to lay blame else where I know in the end it boils down to me making the choice. At least offer me better choices to better myself guess is what I'm trying to say. Just my opinion but seems like longer your out here the harder it is to keep the weight off. LoL

 

Schneider has a heckava program going on then. Study paid for by them if needed. If needed, loaner machine paid for by them until your insurance kicks in. All supplies covered by insurance sent from the company doing the compliance monitoring. Twice a year I get a box shipped to me with a new hose, mask base, 6 mask inserts, a new humidifier reseviour, new filters.

I came to this industry with Apnea. Well with in compliance at 97-98% compliance.

Now ith SNI's idle policy, they've set up a portable battery system with inverter and charger in a tool bag. Paid for by them.

But oh, SNI is a bottom feeder right?

 

I just had the study done while I was at the oc in Dallas. Got my machine on-site. But darn I got jipped....I didn't get no battery system in a tool bag. All I got was the inverter for the machine. But, all in all it cost me all of $0 for all of it, unless you count the reset I took in Dallas.

But yeah, we all know SNI is one of those nasty, bottom feeder megas. Lol

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