@Barry4, I have no stress from reordering because mine is fully automated.
The quandary is labeling of Dexcom products while pump supplies and insulin all acquired under Medicare Part B, DME are devoid of special labels. The idea of resale and multiple other postulated rationale are like the void of interstellar space, empty.
This Dexcom labeling debate is as pneumocephalic as all of the health care telephone messages beginning with “If this is a ‘medical’ emergency, hang up and dial 9-1-1”. Ponder this:
if it were a trauma emergency, would they destination party be able to help.
how mentally feeble is the caller they need be reminded they are not calling emergency services.
how much time is wasted with the droning voice about hanging up & calling 9-1-1?
The Medicare labeling of Dexcom CGM materials has made a wonderful debate.
i believe its because the medicare product costs less than the other one. dexcom had to make a medicare labeled product because their other one is too expensive and would not be able to be shipped to medicare patients for less than what medicare pays a supplier for it
If this lowers cost to medicare and mc patients, I’m all for it. It is recertified, still under warranty and replaced if it malfunctions.
My last brand new medtronic employer HC covered pump (523), failed 3 months after arrival. Refurbished 723 replacement lasted 4+ years and still working when I got new Tandem pump (not medicare) a couple months ago.
I’m on Medicare and until last month, Dexcom was fulfilling G6 Sensor/Transmitter orders. They charged what Medicare would pay so I was not billed anything by Dexcom.
Dexcom has now shut down their provider business and I chose Walgreens to be my Dexcom provider. There were the usual issues getting RX and Doctor’s notes to Walgreens and from there to Medicare, but it is all working now.
But although I was not charged for a new transmitter, Walgreens charged me $44.55 for the 3 sensors. If this continues, then annually I will be paying $538 more for sensors than when Dexcom was the provider. Presumably Walgreens has set their sensor prices higher than Medicare will pay. Either that, or my local Walgreens pharmacy has not configured the order correctly.
My question - have others on this list had the same experience with Walgreens charging more for G6 sensors than Medicare will pay? Have others using Medicare insurance found another provider that does not charge extra for Dexcom/G6 sensors?
What you get charged depends on secondary insurance coverage maybe? It’s possible I guess that Dexcom accepted as full payment just the Medicare as total and Walgreens wouldn’t. I think the other mail order providers are different per area of the country?
But I use Advanced Diabetes Supply
Dexcom referred me to them.
90 days worth, no charge at all
But I have secondary insurance with Medicare
Most of my G6 sensors have failed after five or six days. In fact, since starting on the G6 in March 2020 (having been a Dexcom user since the G4 was first introduced), I’ve had only four sensors last the full ten days. It is now September 2020. Dexcom replaces every failed sensor, but I spend one to two hours, and sometimes more, on the phone with tech support. When I receive the replacements they are sometimes marked as Medicare and sometimes not. I think that the real issue is not how the packaging is marked but, rather, that Dexcom’s quality control has disappeared. And that their tech support is now nonexistent when it comes to why their products fail so frequently. I submitted a support request on 8/3/2020 which has not been addressed as of today 9/11/2020, despite several requests to follow up on it. Does anyone have any experience with the Medtronic cgm? It seems to be similar to the Dexcom G5. How are Medtronic’s quality control and support?
Wow, what a difference @Yvonne1. I wouldn’t be happy with 5 or 6 days at all. Mine are usually lasting around 25 days. I have had a couple only last about 15 days, but then I have some last over 30 days too.
What message do you get, or are the readings just off ? If sensor error, have you tried waiting 10-20 minutes, sometimes it comes back.
Where are you inserting them?
When they do work, are the readings close to bg meter checks?
Do you stay hydrated?
I get “sensor error” on my iPhone and “???” on the receiver. These last for two to three hours. Readings come back for ten to 15 minutes with outrageously incorrect readings, i.e. cgm reads 65 and fingerstick reads 187. Then another 45 minutes of “sensor error” and “???”, then it comes back for five or ten minutes. This cycle repeats for three, four, or five times in a day. Readings have been off by as much as 200 points. I’ve done more fingersticks since starting the G6 than I’ve done since using a Dexcom cgm ever. I started on the then new generation G4 many years ago. I usually insert the sensor on my abdomen but have also tried the back of my arm after so many sensor failures. It doesn’t seem to make any difference. I stay hydrated and have tried varying degrees of hydration with no affect. I can’t trust the G6 cgm after five days. I’ve tried to find out why this happens on a regular basis, but Dexcom tech support has no answers at all. They told me to check with my doctor. I did check with my endocrinologist, who is VERY good and who is also very familiar with Dexcom cgms. He even wore one, even though he is not diabetic, to see what the issues might be with wearing one. When I asked him (years ago) how much of an affect acetaminophen actually has on the cgm readings, he told me that he normally read around 100 (again, he’s not diabetic), but when he took acetaminophen the cgm read around 300. He knows his endocrinology. He thinks these are Dexcom product failures. I recently had one Dexcom tech support rep tell me that, while it’s unofficial, there are reports that this happens to people who are on blood thinners. I am on Plavix and low-dose aspirin since my stroke in January 2016 as a preventative. I was using the G5 with far fewer issues for several years post-stroke. Once starting on the G6 in March 2020, there have been nothing but failures.
I used Medtronics Enlite and Guardian sensors for a year or two when I started CGM. I found the results from both Medtronics sensors to be almost useless and was averaging about 8 test strips/day. Also, the glucose curves displayed were erratic, sort of lurching off in various directions, making interpretation difficult or impossible.
Customer service for replacement of failed sensors was highly variable depending on the rep and I often felt like they were trying to blame me for the failures.
Sounds like you’ve done good analysis, yet still no clear explanation. If I were to switch, I would consider the latest Libre 2, which has vibration alerts.
I have enjoyed watching and reading the replies to my original post.
WHAT IS THE REASON DEXCOM LABELS G6 PRODUCTS FOR MEDICARE USE AND HAS SEPARATE NUMBERS FOR ALL THE COMPONENTS?
-DISCRIMINATION
-FEAR OF THE ALMIGHTY HAND OF MEDICARE
-SOME SECOND CLASS PRODUCTION SCHEME RELATED TO COSTS
-SOME THING ENTIRELY UNRELATED
NOTE: other suppliers of diabetes management products do not do this in my area. The only other ‘labeling’ is one West Coast company labels products for their customers.
Back on task, why the discriminatory treatment from one company, Dexcom?
As a Medicare person, I also got switched from Dexcom to a third-party supplier for my G6 sensors. In my case, because I already get pump cartridges and infusion sets from Solara, I am now getting my G6 sensors from them as well.
My Medicare supplement is through BS of California and, as luck would have it, I just got an EOB from them yesterday. And I happened to get the MSN (Medicare Summary Notice) for the same G6 sensors from Medicare a day or two before that.
Here is what I see:
Solara tried to charge $375.00 for 3 G6 sensors. The Medicare approved amount, however, is only $222.77. Medicare paid 80% of that which is $178.22. They note that (1) I may be responsible for the difference between $222.77 and the $178.22 … which is precisely the $44.55 that Walgreen’s charged you … but also that they had passed it on to BS of California In my case, my EOB from BS of California shows that they paid the remaining 20% of the Medicare-allowed charge of $222.77 … which is $44.55 … leaving me with $0.00 out of pocket expense.
So, I think that your follow up questions are:
Do you have a Medicare supplement?
Does your Medicare Summary Notice show that they passed it on to your supplement? If not, does Walgreen’s have the right Medicare Supplement recorded for you?
Did your Medicare supplement approve or deny the remaining 20%?
Looking at this stuff always makes my head hurt … I need a glass of wine!
@John_S2, This issue is not the COST. The issue is the reason the packages are different. Who gives a tinker’s cuss I am receiving “Medicare” labeled G6 components?
Is Dexcom trying to shame or discriminate by labeling components for the “Social Insurance” programs?
In response 27 of 37 of this thread, @Jim10 asked about cost of G6 sensors at Walgreens. I responded to that and even prefaced my response by addressing it to @Jim10.
If you don’t like that, ask an administrator to remove my response from YOUR thread.
Just so we are clear, I don’t give a tinker’s damn that my G6 sensors say “For DME Distribution Government Payors Only” … after all, G6 sensors are classified as DME under Medicare and Medicare IS a government payor.
Your note nailed it – thanks very much for taking the time to give the details. I now have a plan of action.
I have quite good Medicare Supplemental insurance, but my first step is to verify they will pay the remaining 20% of this DME Rx. If it turns out they do, the next step is to find out if Walgreens has notified my supplemental provider (even though the people in the local pharmacy and on their national chat line have no idea). In the past we have gotten rebate checks from Walgreens, so it is possible their process is to bill the customer and have that money, then notify the supplemental insurance and when/if they pay, then rebate the customer. Of course, it is possible they just coded it wrong and they will be able to easily correct this.
Compared to your experience, and those of others on this forum, I like that approach better than what Walgreens did on this first order. If all this pans out, and if Walgreens is unwilling or unable to process the way other providers do, I will probably change pharmacies. Your method is just simpler.
Thanks again to everyone for offering input and to John for the details.
I have been getting Dexcom supplies for years. First I got them through Dexcom but they lied about my insurance coverage and said they were not covered. When my insurance company confirmed to me they would cover my diabetic supplies in full as long as the vendor had a BCBS contract with them, Dexcom refused to file insurance till it was too late to get reimbursed so I only got about 10% of what I should have received after paying out thousands out of pocket.
Then Dexcom went out mail order supply business and referred me to another mail order vendor where the service was horrible. It took several phone calls and emails most times to get any order filled. My insurance paid them every time in full per their contract but after a few years they refused to send me more supplies saying I had no insurance coverage.
So I tried another company which also has many of same problems which often required many calls to vendor and my insurance company to get necessary supplies. I used to get a 3 month supply of Dexcom and OmniPods but since Medicare started covering the Dexcom I can only get a one month supply of Dexcom Sensors but the plus side is they have started shipping them now without the usual half dozen requests I needed before to get any order filled.
I thought I would try my local Walgreens when I saw them stocking Dexcom since I get a lot of other meds there and usually see them several times a month, but after a few months they told me they could not or would not do the paperwork to get them covered by Medicare. They told me the same thing years ago when I tried to get insulin there so I ended up getting all my other diabetic supplies at Walmart and Medicare was covering my insulin and test strips in full.
But that ended a couple years back and then Walmart wanted a large co-pay and their behavior indicated they didn’t want my business anymore. They often complained about the low payment from Medicare. So I get some diabetic supplies from the third pharmacy in town and the mail order vendor in NYC.
I don’t think my local Walmart and Walgreen pharmacy behavior reflect any national policy, just their own bias and preferences on what is easiest for them, so your experiences might be very different. But I found that getting diabetic supplies after going on Medicare is nearly a full time job.
