Medicare and CGM's

Ok folks it’s been a while but for those that were following the progress in the House there is now 259 cosponsors for the CGM Bill that is more than enough for passage. Well done everyone.

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Actually there are now 263 Co-Sponsors, but according to GovTrack, the bill has only a 4% chance of passing. It used to be 0%, so there has been progress. But I think I don’t understand our government:-(

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1427/cosponsors?=undefined&pageSort=lastToFirst

Is the problem that it won’t be called to a vote?

I have no idea.

@stoner understands how all this stuff works. she told me that congress just isn’t going to vote on much this year, but with so many sponsors, it has a decent chance next year.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned here earlier in the topic, but can someone point me to the website where you can look up how your member of congress stands on this issue? I’m pretty sure last time I checked, mine, who is a member of the Diabetes Caucus, is not supporting any of the legislation currently up for consideration that affetcs PWDs (makes no sense, huh?)

Sadly this bill didn’t pass in 2015. As far as I know it has not been taken up in 2016 and generally 2016 has turned out to be a year of partisan bickering and a deadlocked Congress that is mostly useless and generally just damaging to the country.

A good source of current advocacy issues is the “Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (DPAC).” Perhaps @BadShoe or @Christel can fill us in on whether this issue is still being aggressively worked.

I would say that there are two major breakthroughs in this area. First Dan Patrick was successful in getting a CGM covered by Medicare and wrote about it. This may be a crack that allows others to be successful in getting their CGM approved.

The second breakthrough was the FDA review of whether insulin dosing based on Dexcom readings should be approved. The FDA review panel strongly recommended approving this. Should this be approved by the FDA then CGM may actually be seen as a “cost saving” approach to glucose monitoring by Medicare. After all, if you are testing 10 times a day, Medicare is paying a lot for your test strips.

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The way bills work is they are introduced to a Congress that last two yeas so “H.R.1427 - Medicare CGM Access Act of 2015” covers the 114th Congress that is both 2015 and 2016.

The good news is a bipartisan majority of the House has cosponsored CGM coverage. The bill has gained TEN new house cosponsors in September already. The progress has been remarkably steady. Steady isn’t always newsworthy, but it is how progress is made.

The easy way to see who has sponsored the bill and how well it is doing is the DPAC Scorecard.
http://diabetespac.org/scorecard/

There you can see who has and who has not cosponsored the CGM bill (and others). You can even tweet directly from the scorecard. Click thanks in the CGM column. Off goes a Tweet of thanks for support. That scorecard Tweet even knows who is a member of key commitees.

PLEASE LOOK UP YOUR CONGRESSMEMBER

NOW is GREAT time to thank Congress members who have sponsored the legislation and ask others to join in. DPAC Makes that easy. We know who has and who has not sponsored the bill and adjust letters accordingly. All anyone needs to do is enter their name and address and DPAC’s system does all the rest. We do love it when people personalize a letter with their story and all are actions allow that. Just Go Here: http://act.diabetespac.org/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=100459

EDITORIAL
I don’t think the bill needs to pass to be useful.

I see it a powerful message to Medicare, on that that says if you don’t find a way to provide CGM coverage we, Congress, will micro manage you. Medicare doesnt want that. Nobody like the boss telling them how to do their job.

Many bills are just that - messages, and this one is gaining strength.

The landscape is that CMS is losing in administrative courts and has a majority of Congress lining up for coverage. Medicare needs a reason to change that lets them save face and FDA action on labeling may be it. So I think we should keep up the advocacy to help move towards that possible success.
/EDITORIAL

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Thanks for the clarification Bennett. I would also note that I have found that diabetespac.org works best with Explorer.

vs. what other browser? I use chrome.

It may just be my configuration, but neither firefox or chrome will bring up the scorecard. You can contact me directly if I can help provide more info.

I use firefox and it came up just fine. My congressman has a score of 1.

My representative is on board with CGM access, but none of the senators are yet. My representative has a score of 2, but both senators are at 1.

Interesting. the scorecard is actually a section of a shared google sheets page.

That Congressman is up for reelection like every house seat, maybe now is a good time to chat…

I have various “security” things imposed on me, particularly as it relates to social media and things like google docs. In that light, perhaps it is even stranger that the scorecard works at all with Explorer

um, yes, I am keenly aware, and well…

Well, I’ll be honest here. My current congressperson (Scott Garrett, NJ-05) will not be getting my vote this November. Just this week, I’ve been doing something I have never done, volunteer for a congressional campaign (Josh Gottheimer). During breaks between making phone calls and doing some computer work for them, I talked to the head of their field office here, and he was unaware that Garrett is a member of the Diabetes caucus and has done nothing to move on any of this legislation. He took notes, and I am hopeful Josh will also join the Diabetes Caucus, and we can put these up for a vote.

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Girl, I’ve been a type 1 for 42 years, I’m 45 years old, I have medicare as a primary insurance, and everything u just said, ivery experienced it or am experiencing it right now. And I’ve also come to find that doctors tell u one thing and do another, and these BILLION dollar pump corporations such as Medtronic and Dexcom, there all about getting u a CGM, until they find out u have Medicare, then they feed u the biggest line of ■■■■■■■■ cause they think you’ll believe whatever they say. And keep in mind, WE PAY FOR OUR MEDICARE, and that was for the people reading this who think Medicare is like Medicaid, free, I must stop now, cause now I’m pissed, but girl I feel u all the way, peace & love…xo

Now October 23, 2016, Neither bill on or near the floor. This session is almost over. Disheartening to see another session of congress go by with no change!!

For those of us wearing the CGM it is a big deal because Medicare is not paying anything toward coverage which means the monetary burden is on the wearer. Thats great if you are rich! Most of us are not and have other medical expenses related to T1D as well. Sadly there are diabetics in our country who can’t afford insulin. Passage of these bills would have had a tremendous impact on my life!

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