This is why it’s almost impossible to move to NZ. How did you get in?
It can be quite easy to move to NZ as there is a shortage of quite a lot of types of workers here, and they’re always looking for more. For example these jobs have a residency pathway, either immediately or after 2 years of working in NZ.
The big catch is that your visa has be granted when you are 55 or younger. You also have to be sure your visa is good for 2 years or longer in order to gain access to publicly funded healthcare.
You do have to also be in generally good health. T1D was obviously not a barrier for me, but if you have more serious chronic problems like kidney disease, etc. you’ll face a lot more scrutiny.
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The Dexcom One+ is the same hardware as the G7 running different software that changes the devices and apps it will connect to. Here’s a Dexcom PDF comparing the two. https://ie.provider.dexcom.com/sites/g/files/rrchkb156/files/2024-07/MAT-3366uki_Dexcom_G7_to_ONE_plus_Transition_Guide.pdf
Dexcom is doing great at manufacturing a single hardware platform that they can customize in software to meet different regulatory requirements. In the US the G7 platform has been repurposed as Stelo that can be purchased by anyone. Abbott is an example of how to do this wrong, they have 4 hardware platforms on the market with a 5th in trials. Their latest US product due out later this year is based on the oldest platform, the Libre 2.
I agree it’s clever, but it’s also an example of enshittification whereby a fully functioning product is intentionally crippled in order to maximize profits. They’re charging more for G7 not because it’s more expensive to manufacture, but because they can.
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So in theory someone should be able to hack the G7 app to make it work with One+ sensors?
@Boerenkool Support for the One+ has been added to xdrip+. I do IT security for work so disclaimer time, you might as well display your BG on a sign over your head if you are using community apps like xdrip with a CGM. Since we don’t have the One+ in the US I’m curious what the G7 app has that you don’t get with the One+?
@schleima I found Dexcom’s NZ store and now I understand your complaint. NZ$30-ish more for a CGM that’ll work with a pump seems greedy… but we have to be missing something. Its not a big enough difference to justify two products. They’d probably make just as much, if not more selling just the G7 at full price to everyone that needed a CGM?
You inadvertently being up an interesting point in that the actual price is hidden from American customers. Here in NZ we have one importer who sells Dexcom and that’s it. The price is the price. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lower cost of One+ is baked into whatever insurance arrangement the supplier has with the DME in the US.
The main differences are the alert options (left: One+, right: G7):
I think having an alert schedule and urgent low alerts are very useful features.
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Per my original post, CGMs for type 1 diabetes are now fully funded in New Zealand! I just got my first batch of nine G7s at the pharmacy with no copay (all pharmacy prescriptions, including DME like insulin pumps and CGMs, cost $5/30 days or $10/90 days, but some larger pharmacies waive this copay entirely.) I’m so relieved by this as it is a huge savings for our family budget.
There was a bit of a problematic rollout. I had an appointment with my GP on day 1 (Oct 1) where he submitted my “special authority” which qualified me for the Rx. He sent the prescription to the pharmacy.
Apparently the wholesalers who supply pharmacies around New Zealand did not anticipate demand, and virtually everyone sold on in the first hours of day 1. It’s taken over a week for the supply chain to catch up, and I finally received my first prescription on Oct 9.
Dexcom assured me there’s plenty of supply in NZ, and that this was simply a logistics problem. Pharmac, the government agency which decides on drug funding, told me that in general when a new drug is funded in NZ the demand is not nearly this great.
It’s good to know that so many diabetics were aware of the benefit of CGMs and have taken to them so readily.
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