I have the same fear Natalie, trying not to think about it just yet, but I think I know someone on another board, oooo she is here too, that just got a pump, I think she is on Medicare. I will check with her
The questions generally relate to criteria specified in many insurance plans. If you are allowing MM to interface with your insurance company, then they need the answers to those questions. If you are handling the negotiations with insurnace yourself, it’s not MM’s business. Frankly, it’s in MM’s interest to sell a new pump so it’s probably faster, easier and more effective for MM to be your interface.
Ordered my new pump today should arrive next Thursday, they said I need to schedule with endo’s nurse to have pump explained to me.
Does anyone know if the new MM is that different, that I need training??
Good stuff Karen 
…
I upgraded to the Canadian Veo , Feb 2011 …in our country it is advised to connect with one’s pump trainer , when one upgrades as far as I know . Have no regrets I did …pump nurse has become my friend over the years …comes to our
home .There are some features , which are different .I prefer discussing and been shown " how to " instead of visiting a website …so be it , as a Senior pumper .
Just as a matter of fact on the Medtronic webite under your profile it will tell you when your pump warranty is up. Mine is up in October 2013.
This is whats wrong with health care costs - We buy things with others money - not because we need it but because we are entitled to it. If the expense was all yours, would you replace every time it gets out of warranty or when it no longer meets your needs? We have an entitlement mentality that says I want it; I deserve it; I get it. The system needs revision!
This is true, but at the same time, costs wouldn’t be as high as they are if not for our health care costs. I see my insurance statements… the doctor charges $350 for a visit, but the “negotiated rate” with the insurance company is $45. If they are getting underpaid by United Healthcare or whomever, the guys without insurance and negotiating power are overpaying.
What I am dealing with right now is cost of pumps. My HMO works with a supplier who will not give me any idea on an estimate for a new pump. So apparently I have to select the one that I think is cheaper (because my copay is very high) and push paper through just to get a price.
Why I cant get the price ahead of time, is beyond me. It is my money, I dont have alot of it and they are simply tying my hands and preventing me from pre-planning.
Yes very much so; same with blood work - mine is 10 to 1 the providers play a game trying to bid up the price and those without insurance are thoroughly screwed. The price should be the pro\ice regardless of who is paying. Drug companies also inflate their proces because they know insurance will pay then they have special prices for people without insurance. In those cases insurance pays too much.
I would have gladly waited until my pump died, but…my company did a wellness screening and I flunked, but I get to try again in October, and our rates are going to be determined by how well we did on the wellness screening, so I am pretty sure my insurance is going to cost me more next year and who knows if they will even pay for my pump next year. I am screwed because I have a chronic illness.
So I bought the pump it came this Monday and now I am good for another 4-5 years,
Diabetes should not be an issue on a well ness screening - I have had them too one I did not even know about so I flunked (must of missed questionaire in the mail???) and for a year i had higher co pays but all the other well ness screenings I had were lifestyle issues - if they gigged you over diabetes, I would try and get it reversed - diabetes is outside your control. Even when i was on the higher copays my pump was still covered.
Well, the pump companies are insisting on replacing perfectly good pumps for minor issues and warranty expiration for liability reasons. OUR money doesn’t even enter the equation – ALL medical costs are a battle between insurance companies and medical suppliers. The insured pay quite enough already, and all payers are covering others, one way or another anyway.
I don’t think we, as medical consumers have an entitlement mentality, other than we want to have what we know works for us. Do I REALLY feel entitled to insulin? Do I deserve it? Guess not, if I didn’t mind dying in the next few days.
Even something as non-essential as test strips. Do I deserve an adequate quantity of test strips? Which is more important: the insurance company’s bottom line and shareholder profits, or better control whose money-saving advantage may not even be provable because it’s measured in what’s NOT going to have to be paid for down the line?
To me, it seems obvious that medical care cannot be compared with the price of shoes, but it doesn’t seem to be obvious to very many politicians.
Diabetes IS definitely an issue on health screening. Don’t you KNOW that diabetes is CAUSED by obesity, and you CHOSE to get fat? What? You’re Type 1? Urr … ummm… well the guidelines say diabetes, and you’re diabetic. NEXT!!!
I have to say, I wish they would offer a way to have your pump fixed if it broke instead of making us buy new in order to have any coverage. Animas told me it is too expensive to do extended warranties. So, right, we have to either keep usin gour pump until it dies or buy brand new. And in my case, if it dies, it is going to take two months to get a new one because my HMO works with stupid Carecentrix who do not do anything fast, nor correctly.
Natalie - Its not for liability reasons - its for compensation reasons and ts because insurance companies will generally pay another 6000 its all a lousy game and the system needs to change so that people get what they need when they need it not necessarily what they want when they want it. If a pump is still working (i have never had a pump fail of old age) and is of current technology, there is no god reason to replace it. It looks like some insurers and medicare are starting to take this on. If pumps were used for 5 or 6 years instead of the typical 4 years, think of all the dollars that could be freed up. And I am sure that pumps are not the only item that is replaced prematurely.
Gerri do you keep any old pumps as spares? I have a lil museum of old but functional pumps!
I do have an old one as a spare, which seems to me to be a not bad idea, especially if you keep using yours until after the warranty expires – in which case, they are nowhere near so eager to get you a new one until all the tedious paper work is done.
But it seems to me that some insurance cos./pump cos. want you to return the old one when you get a new one?
Exactly Natalie.
Bloodsugar 150 ALERT
Blood presser 124/74 ALERT (totally stressed as I was trying to get bloodsugar down from over 200 before I would let them draw blood at work)
Waistline measurement ALERT
Endo was not worried but when I told him they are going to base my medical ins. rates off of this information he said they can’t do that??? Ha oh yes they will
We had some kind of screening thing and it’s more like you get a $100 credit if you make some sort of improvement in your numbers, which seems reasonable?
I don’t have insurance where I work though as we use MrsAcidRock’s company instead. The person I sit by @ work mentioned her BG was 136 and it seems as if all they did was tell her it was out of range. I suggested she may want to f/u w/ her doc but I’m not 100% sure if she is aware of my situation as she’s on the other side of the cubicle wall so we are close but I don’t talk about my BG. The people in my cube know about it from testing BG, eating, centerfolds, etc. but I haven’t gone over the wall. I feel like I should nag her more but she seems unconcerned about it or they didn’t concern her.
no I have never had to return an old one unless I was doing an upgrade