CPAP Therapy Cost: 5-Year Guide (2026)

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CPAP therapy is a long game. The machine is just the first line on the receipt. The part most people underestimate is the steady drip of supplies over five years: cushions, filters, tubing, and the quiet cost of leaving a humidifier running every night. If you're trying to decide whether to go through insurance or just pay cash, you need a clear picture of what the whole thing actually costs.

Run the numbers with the free CPAP Cost Calculator. It uses the 2026 Medicare replacement schedule as its default and lets you toggle between insurance and cash scenarios in one click. The rest of this guide explains where every number comes from so you can decide whether the defaults fit your situation.

The 5-year cost breakdown

There are only three buckets that matter when you project CPAP cost over five years:

1. The machine itself. This is a one-time cost (assuming no failures), $0 out of pocket if you're going through Medicare with a 13-month rent-to-own, or a single mid-to-premium-tier purchase price for a current-generation AirSense, AirCurve, or BMC device. Run the Calculator in Detailed Mode to plug in your real cash quote if you have one.
2. Supplies. Cushions, masks, headgear, tubing, humidifier chambers, and filters. This is the big one over time; the default Medicare replacement schedule projects an annual supply cost that the Calculator estimates from internal defaults (overridable in Detailed Mode).
3. Power. A CPAP with the humidifier on draws about 60 watts during therapy. The Calculator projects yearly electricity cost from your local rate (default rate overridable).

Machine + supplies + power × 60 months = your 5-year total. Everything else (SD card replacements, cleaning supplies, an occasional new mask when yours breaks) is optional and doesn't move the needle much.

Medicare CPAP replacement schedule

Medicare publishes a replacement schedule that dictates how often your DME supplier can bill for each item. This schedule also tracks the clinical guidance from AASM, so even cash-pay users should follow it for hygiene reasons. The Compliance Calculator uses internal cost defaults to project five-year totals; override them in Detailed Mode if your supplier's pricing differs.

Item	Replacement cadence
Mask cushion	Monthly
Full mask assembly	Every 3 months
Headgear	Every 6 months
Humidifier chamber	Every 6 months
Tubing	Every 3 months
Disposable filters	Every 2 weeks
Non-disposable filters	Every 6 months

If you're on Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan, you need to have met the compliance rule before the DME supplier can keep billing for ongoing supplies. The rule is 4+ hours of usage on 70% of nights in a 30-day window during the first 90 days. The Compliance Calculator is the fastest way to check where you stand.

Insurance vs cash: how to decide

The short answer: if you hit your deductible every year, insurance is cheaper on supplies. If you don't, cash is often cheaper after year 2.

The longer answer depends on your plan. Medicare covers 80% of the Medicare-approved amount on CPAP supplies after you meet the Part B deductible. That puts your out-of-pocket for supplies at roughly 20% of the cash-pay price. Run the calculator above with your plan's actual deductible and coinsurance for the side-by-side projection.

But the calculation flips if you're on a high-deductible commercial plan and never meet the deductible. In that case you're paying close to full sticker anyway, and you lose the flexibility of shopping Amazon prices and timing your replacements yourself. A quality mask cushion from Amazon is typically cheaper than a DME-billed one even before insurance.

There's also a hidden cost to going through a DME supplier: the paperwork. Most suppliers require a new prescription and compliance documentation every 12 months. Sleep doctor visits between plan years can add a meaningful annual line item; plug your local copay into the calculator if it matters for your projection.

Our rule of thumb:

• New user, still in the 90-day trial window: stick with insurance. The 13-month rent-to-own makes the machine effectively free and you need the DME paper trail for compliance anyway.
• Experienced user, machine is paid off: cash-pay supplies on Amazon often beat billing insurance, especially if you have a high deductible. You can always reactivate insurance billing later if your situation changes.
• On Medicare with a supplement: insurance stays ahead indefinitely. The 20% coinsurance is covered by Plan G or similar, leaving you at ~$0 out of pocket.

Power cost math

A modern CPAP draws about 30 watts without the humidifier and about 60 watts with the heated humidifier running. At the U.S. national average of 16¢ per kWh, 7 hours of therapy per night works out to about $24 per year with the humidifier on.

This is small enough that most people can ignore it, but two edge cases matter:

1. Expensive electricity markets (California, Hawaii, parts of New England) can push power cost to $50-80 per year.
2. Running dry (humidifier off) cuts power cost in half. If you live in a humid climate, you can often drop the humidifier without comfort issues.

The calculator defaults are conservative: 7 hours/night, humidifier on, 16¢/kWh. Override them in Detailed Mode if your numbers differ.

Five money-saving tips

After modeling dozens of scenarios in the calculator, these are the biggest levers:

1. Buy cushions in bulk on Amazon

Mask cushions are the single biggest recurring supply line. A DME supplier bills insurance for each cushion at a noticeable markup over OEM cash pricing; the same OEM ResMed cushion on Amazon is typically much cheaper. Buy a multi-pack and you're set for several months at a fraction of the DME price.

2. Switch to a reusable filter

Disposable filters run on a 2-week replacement cadence and the recurring cost adds up over a year. A reusable foam filter replaces every 6 months and ends up under half the annual cost: same filtration, fewer reorders.

3. Wash your cushion instead of replacing it

Cushions don't actually need monthly replacement for a silicone seal. Wash nightly with a CPAP-safe cleaner (opens in new tab) and you can usually stretch to 2-3 months on the same cushion without a comfort drop. The Medicare schedule is conservative by design.

4. Replace the humidifier chamber, not the whole humidifier

Some users end up replacing their entire CPAP because the humidifier starts leaking. The fix is almost always a fresh humidifier chamber instead of a new machine. The chamber is a fraction of the machine cost.

5. Consider a refurbished AirSense 10 for cash buys

A refurbished AirSense 10 from a reputable seller is meaningfully cheaper than a new AirSense 11 and is clinically identical for most users. Pair it with fresh tubing and a humidifier chamber and you're on OEM spec for the price of a single month of DME billing.

Example: 5-year cost at default settings

Open the Cost Calculator and run it in cash mode with the defaults. The breakdown shows the relative weight of machine cost, recurring supplies, and electricity. Most of the lifetime cost is supplies, not the machine itself.

Flip to insurance mode with Medicare-default 20% coinsurance and the supply line drops by roughly four-fifths. Power and machine line items also adjust based on whether your insurance covers the rent-to-own.

The gap between cash and insurance is the upper bound on how much insurance can save you, assuming you hit your deductible every year and your supplier bills at the Medicare-approved rate. If you don't hit your deductible, your real-world insurance savings will be smaller.

FAQs

How accurate is the calculator?

The defaults are calibrated to 2026 U.S. market prices (Amazon medians for supplies, AirSense 10/11 power draw, U.S. average electricity rate). Every number is overridable in Detailed Mode, so if your supplier charges a different price or your electricity rate is higher than 16¢, you can plug in the exact numbers yourself.

Does the calculator include travel CPAPs?

No. Travel CPAPs have a different supply profile (they usually don't have a humidifier chamber and have proprietary filters) and are typically a secondary device for occasional use. Use the full-CPAP defaults if you want a worst-case estimate.

Why isn't my insurance copay shown?

The calculator assumes Medicare coinsurance (20% after deductible) by default. Commercial plans vary wildly; override the coinsurance percentage in Detailed Mode to match your plan.

What about the cost of compliance data?

SD cards are inexpensive and last years. The CPAP Clarity dashboard reads them for free. The only actual cost is the SD card itself, and you can add that line to the machine cost if you want a truly complete picture.

Try the calculator

Run the numbers for your own situation. The calculator saves your inputs in your browser (never sent to our servers), so you can tweak and re-run without losing your place. If you want to track your actual usage to prove Medicare compliance, the Compliance Calculator is the companion tool.