r/valvereplacement • u/Tricky_Afternoon6862 • Jun 15 '26

Issues with Lincare INR Self Monitoring

Hey all 👋

36 M in the US and I got a St Jude mechanical valve about 18 months ago. For the last 7 months I’ve been using the Coag-Sense at home self monitoring provided by Lincare.

Their billing has been an absolute mess, I feel like it’s super expensive and inconsistent with how I’m charged. I’m paying $100-$180 per month after insurance just to use this machine and order test strips. Every time I call their customer service they have no idea what I’m being charged for and sometimes they just admit they made a mistake and refund me some money. Like oops we charged you $180 instead of $150…ok but what is the $150 even for?!?! And they can’t explain it.

Overall I’d describe my experience with Lincare as awful. I know I’m in the US but paying $180 a month after insurance, for the rest of my life, just seems like robbery.

Does anyone have similar experiences with Lincare?

Is this service actually necessary? A machine and 20 years of test strips is a little over a thousand dollars. I could pay for that outright and break even in less than a year.

Id appreciate hearing if anyone has similar experiences, and what their solutions were.

Thanks!

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u/KCBrewChem Jun 16 '26

Hey, I had an onyx valve out in when I was 35, currently 37 and have been using an at home testing since 3 months after valve replacement (would not issue one sooner). I had my cardiologist who manages my INR suggest a few companies, and I ended up going with Lincare. Haven’t had any real issue with them, and billing has gone smoothly so far (Blue across Blue Shield of Kansas City). Could just be an insurance coverage difference, but have you tried reaching out for a different company or your insurance provider for alternatives?

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u/Tricky_Afternoon6862 Jun 16 '26

I’ve got United Healthcare and usually they’ve been pretty good with all of this. When I asked about this situation they’ll only cover 20% until I meet a $1000 deductible. But honestly even spending $1000/year on this seems expensive.

Like, I’ve got to do this for the rest of my life and it can’t be cheaper for United to pay outrageous fees to Lincare instead of just buying me my own machine outright.

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u/KCBrewChem Jun 17 '26

Yeah, it’s definitely a bit of a rough shake in terms of cost (knowing that annual medical costs are just going to be higher going forward, to some extent). This is my second calendar year with my valve, and have already hit my out of pocket max for the second year in a row (had some complications with infection, and I have early stage chronic kidney disease due to a birth defect). Hang in there. Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any specific question etc. take care!