I called Insulet yesterday to order more pods and was told that they were no longer able to bill Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield so they would have to transfer my order to "Better Living Now." I was a bit concerned, as the only other place I've priced pods was with my prescription provider where they are much more expensive. Turns out that BLN sells pods for a few cents less per pod than Insulet, and they offered me a better price on my strips than I can get with my insurance and FreeStyle Promise. This is because they provide them through medical coverage rather than Rx coverage... who knew??
So, next time you have to order pods, call around to see if you can save money by ordering indirect.
Hi Erik. I am looking into Free Apidra and the Promise program for strips. Just GOOGLE them and you'll get a thing to take to the pharmacy. I believe the Apidra is totally free till April 2012 and the strip discounted. Good luck. Might both be US only if you are overseas. ♥
I just started on the Omnipod and am with Empire BC/BS too. I was initially disturbed when Insulet told me they don't have a contract with Empire and I would have to go through BLN. Your post makes me feel better. They handled the paperwork and got the pods and PDM shipped to me quickly. The main concern I have is support if a pod goes bad, etc. as some on here have said they had trouble getting service from Insulet when they purchased through a 3rd party. Any experiences there ?
How did you order your strips through BLN - did you just have your doctor send the prescription to them ?
I have enough strips for now, so I didn't order any this time around. I suspect you would have to get a Rx from your doctor to get insurance benefit as they are available OTC.
I expect that Insulet will continue to replace defective pods as they have in the past. We'll see...
The only difference should be that they will ship me replacements directly at the time of failure instead of waiting for a replacement order to combine them.
Erik, I read your post with interest. I emailed Better Living Now on Saturday and received a call back within about an hour. I have Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of NC and was suprised to hear that they no longer have a contract with Insulet!!!. I spoke to Insulet just last week and they assured me my order of pods would go on Nov 14 (today). The rep I spoke with at BLN said that Insulet was passing all of their pod customers to BLN. Insulet never mentioned to me, curious! The BLN rep emailed Insulet to find out about my account and said they would get back to me. As of 3:24 pm today I have not heard anything. The BLN rep also told me that bad pods would still need to be called into Insulet for replacement as you said. She then told me the same thing you mentioned that BLN could provide test strips and, because they bill under medical coverage not prescription coverage like my present supplier (Liberty Medical), that my copay would be cheaper. I will keep you posted as to what happens. Right now, my Endo Dr gives me free insulin, so I don't have to buy that. Hank Barnes
Based on a couple conversations with BLN, it seems like some of their systems rely on batch processing, so you may not get a real time response. I did get a followup call from them asking questions to complete my profile, including credit card information. They indicated that they wouldn't bill my card without asking for permission, so I expect to hear from them once I recieve the pod order.
One other thing I didn't mention was that BLN allowed me to order 40 pods, where Insulet would only allow 30. This will postpone some deductible pain in 2012.
