So, I’ve never started a thread on here before, but I figure I would today after what happened to me.
This morning: realize my supplies are running low and that a few of my prescriptions need refills. (like a dummy, I forgot to ask at my last appointment a couple of weeks ago) I call my doctor’s office and leave a message to call me back.
This afternoon: an employee from my endo’s office calls back and gets all my info, etc. so I can get needed refills. She then says that the doctor is no longer prescribing test strips and that I would have to buy them from the pharmacy. I asked her why and she did not give me a reason, other than just saying that the doctor was no longer prescribing them. By this time, I was understandably frustrated and thinking I should get a new doctor or find a second job. I told her, “well, aren’t test strips pretty important for people with diabetes?!” Finally, (right before I was going to threaten to switch endos) she says that the doctor will refill my prescription for test strips.
I am outraged. My doctor doesn’t pay for test strips. I do (along with my very valuable medical insurance). What I worry most about, however, is her other patients. Not everyone has the money to spend $100+ a month on test strips each month and if I did not have insurance I know I would think twice before I tested, knowing that each test was coming right out of my pocket.
Has anyone else experienced this? Why on earth would a doctor do this?
I have never had that experience with strips but I have had a doctor who played a game with my insulin. She refused to fill one of my insulin until I came to see her even after I explained I was on my last pen, it was a holiday week and I had a unexpected death in the family. She just ignored me…I always seem to have bad experiences with doctors to say the least…
Doctor’s sometimes will hesitate to write a prescription unless the patient sees the doctor at the office. I’ve also heard of doctors that demand to see the diabetic a minimum number of times during the course of a year in order to write prescriptions.
But what you describe seems to me like a doctor that is fed up with all the paperwork that our current health care system demands. I’m sympathetic with the doctor to a point but in this case he needs to meet your request. He should support frequent blood sugar checks and not withhold the Rx to make that financially feasible. Maybe he was having a bad day.
Maybe, next time you should just point blank ask him what his rationale is for that. I would fire a doctor that did not cooperate writing needed diabetes maintenance Rx’s. That’s one of the biggest reasons that I see my endocrinologist.
I too have not had that experience but if it was me I would have a discussion with Endo my next appointment and then make decisions whether I should get another Endo.
I had that situation once but had sort of blown the doctor off for a while but Walgreen’s kept bamboozling the doc into refilling until she finally cut them off. I switched doctors @ that point, although I also punched the clipboard @ the pharmacy drive-through in half because I had a psycho attack when I finally got cut off and got the ridiculous bill for the test strips without an rx. I just threw everything back in the drive through bank teller thingy and went somewhere else.
Well,I’m not sure about your insurance down there but I know that where I’m from in Canada buying the strips outright and not going through our provincial drug plan (that gives me nothing for a reduction) it costs me 11.00/100 strips less. Goes against income tax that doesn’t give much of a deduction either but that might be an option. Have to get the pharmacist to write a hand receipt for the strips . Strips and needles are the only items I can do that for. Aside for the fact the doctor just wants to fatten their piggy bank up by being paid for another visit I suppose the other reason would be to see how everything is going.
I think you need to make an urgent appointment with the doctor - the receptionist knows nothing, she is just reading from a script. This is outrageous! If the problem happens again then you should change doctors.
This is happening in England too now. The government is dictating how many strips we are allowed each month and some doctors are being “jobsworths” and sticking to that rule without regard for the patient. Thankfully, most of the doctors at my surgery will give me what I need (at least 200) strips per month - I have two different types of machine and I use one as a main, and the other as a spare, but I can ask for 200 strips for each machine and know that I always have enough.
Perhaps you should point out to any new doctor that it is not a given that you will only use a certain number of strips - things go wrong and you either have to test more frequently or your machine comes up with an error reading and therefore you need to re do the tests.
I obviously cannot speak for the US or Canadian way of prescribing so I cannot understand why your doctor will not supply - if indeed that is true, and not just the receptionist being obstructive.
I call this medical extortion… Have you seen this doctor at least once within the year?.. Id have a discussion about this at your next visit… But be prepared to find another doc if it gets hostile…
I agree with Jake. That is irresponsible at best, to let you go without insulin! She could have said, “Ok, I’ll fill it for now but as it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you I need for you to come in for a visit”. I was running out of my acid reflux medicine refills and it had been a year since I’d seen the gastroenterologist so I knew he would want to see me. When I called his office they didn’t have an appointment for 6 weeks so I made the appointment and then e-mailed him to say I had an appointment upcoming but would run out before then, so could he please refill. He did and even included refills. And that medicine is not life preserving like insulin is!
Or if the doctor really felt it necessary to see you, offer to schedule you an appt and give you ONE refill to tide you to that appointment… Fortunately my current endo doesn’t play those game, but also he usually has a waitlist for appointments… (My past one didnt, but a few of the doctors I had before then… Oh man. they gamed me for refills)… I had a primary who was reluctant to refill my insulin, BUT I also explained to him I had a 6 month wait for a new endo appt… (and he actually looked it up since he was affiliated with that hospital)… and gave me 3 refills but wanted me to see him for the other 3… And I was fine with that
That is not the case at all. I just saw her less than a month ago and I’ve probably been to see her at least six times this year since I’ve gone on the pump for follow-ups and all that. I’ll see her again in Oct and will look into the issue.
Does any one know of a pharmacy in Canada where you can buy cheap test strips? I live in the states, haven’t had any medical insurance for the last 5 years and am ALWAYS on the look out for test strips. I use about 12+ per day. I don’t have a DR. and Endo or anything and the only way I can keep on track is with test strips. I have to play the guessing game with how much insulin to use but so far have been OK.
I don’t know anything about pharmacies in Canada, but you can get some decent deals on test strips on Craigslist. Also I’ve heard people mention a walmart meter you can buy and then their strips are cheaper than others. I’m sorry you don’t have medical insurance, I know that is hard.
I’ve encountered something similar to this with my daughter’s pediatric endo’s office. For whatever reason the doctors discourage testing T1 children more than 4x per day, so the nurses sometimes take it upon themselves to deny any request for more than that. The most memorable time this happened the nurse told me that the doctors would back her up so I should call them. And of course I called the doctor and I did get my strips, but not without the usual discussion about why I need to test my daughter as much as I do.
I think they’re worried about people reselling the strips. I understand it, but they go overboard. My husband has an easier time getting his Percoset than my daughter does getting her strips.
I always like to turn this around. The nurse is just being an intermediary. Be very clear with her. Did the doctor give you medical advice to stop testing? After all, you have established a clear relatoinship with your endo where he has been “prescribing” test strips to you. So in the past, his medical treatment recommendation was that you test. If he wishes you to stop testing that is fine, but he has no role in determining where you get test strips and how you pay for them. If he does not provide a prescription for test strips, then I would consider that a medical decision that you no longer need to test.
ps. I really think that this is part of the penny pinching endos (and other drs) go through to make sure they don’t provide a service for free. They really want an office visit.
pps. You could also have said “I was supposed to get this at my visit 3 weeks ago,” without placing blame. After all, a good doctor should have a record of your prescriptions that they maintain and have reminded you.
I don’t think I’d have too much confidence in an endo who told a T1 to be tested no more than 4x a day. How would you do your boluses and how would you know if they were successful or needed a correction? Let alone how would you know if she felt weird and you needed to test to see if she were low so you could treat it? How would you know if she was safe to go to bed at night or was low and needed a snack?
I’m a Type 1 and my doctor wrote it for 300 a month (10 a day) without blinking an eye. (and the insurance approved it). I would think with children you would need to test more not less than with an adult.
Zoe, I agree with you. But there’s a shortage of good pediatric endos around here. I stick with this one because even though she disagrees she does listen to me and usually gives me what I ask for. We get 400 strips per month, and we use that many.
The insurance only requires a phone call from the endo’s office to approve that many strips. I asked the endo once why she wouldn’t just give us what we ask for without the Q&A session, and she said something about making sure we need as many as we ask for and not over-prescribing.
That’s good that you get what you need in the end. My own doctor knows little about Type 1, but I just tell him what prescriptions I need and he writes them. My favorite kind of doctor! But I started out doing everything on my own and I’ve just stuck with it. I’m sure it feels very different when you’re responsible for another life!
That’s my favorite kind of doctor too! Too many of them expect you to just sit back, listen and keep your mouth shut. I wish I could find one of those for myself.
