The OneTouch strips are not in formulary for my prescription plan.
Looking for recommendations for alternatives. My doc’s office likes the OneTouch because you can flag readings as before and after meals, and it is downloadable to their computer.
Anybody got suggestions for another type?
I am going to test the Wave Sense Keynote after reading Bernard’s comments on it. I am curious to find out why he thinks it is significantly more accurate than the others (I have been using OneTouch Ultra for years and find it to give consistently too low readings).
Thanks – looks interesting. Where will you get your supplies? Will your plan cover them?
Freestyle is always a good choice.
Small Blood amount needed.
Uses different technology to find glucose numbers.
Won’t show glucose variations when taking cold medicine or Acetaminphen. (most others including onetouch does)
I love the old model because of the useful light it had on to check sugars in the dark.
thanks – I’ll check it out
I am currently using the BD lodgic whitch is now Nova Max When I have tested while doing lab work fell within 10% every time. generly within 3 to 4 points. wiht fasting BG between 89 and 105.
Thanks – have not heard of this one. I’ll check it out
Apparently the Freestyle Lite (not the Freedom Lite) has this function as well. I’m currently still using, and happy with, the original Freestyle Flash.
First: what is in the formulary for your prescription plan, and at what level of coverage? Is it 100% covered as needed, is there a co-pay but covered as needed, or do you need to spend out-of-pocket to supplement what is covered by insurance? (Also, what is the co-pay, for how many strips?)
If all of your strips are covered, with no co-pay, then first check the brands, then check the models on each brand. You may need to keep a log book with the times of your meals to compare.
If you cannot find strips that are covered and have to pay out-of-pocket regardless, look for models that are not from the big-five (Roche/Accu-Chek, Lifescan/One Touch, Abbott/Freestyle, Bayer, BD) that have the features and software you are interested in.
The Bayer Contour2 and the Wavesense Presto both advertise meal-marker capabilities on the device. The Wavesense Keynote has time-of-day averages that are apparently limited to “breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime”. No pre-prandial/post-prandial splits or other times of day.
One way of doing further checking is to go on the site of a mail-order diabetes-supply house such as American Diabetes Wholesale or Hocks, check out the unknown brands, and check the manufacturers’ web sites for more information. Again, this is going to be more useful if you are paying out-of-pocket than if you are completely covered.
Another option your doctor might have set up, or might choose to set up, is one where you can upload your meter readings to your computer, add the appropriate comments (i.e., pre-breakfast; had 6 oz fat-free plain yogurt and two scrambled egg-whites), and then submit the data to the system at his office.
thanks for your questions – I’m having trouble getting the prescription plan to help me identify what it DOES cover – have been at it for weeks – pharmacists aren’t much help, attempts to call the plan administrator have either gotten into on-hold never-never land or their computers are down.
the doc’s office will write a scrip once I know what is covered.
strategy at this point is to try the website with specific names of strips – so far that hasn’t worked either… all the preferred meters are not covered. I expect that I will be appealing to the sponsoring company (it’s a self-insured employer) and get them to help me, but I really don’t like making a lot of noise at my husband’s employer.
I am FreeStyle Freedom fan, One Touch or (AccuCheck) was just not accurate and was either too low or too high. I have had my FreeStyle checked several time and I am within 5-6%. I also test 8 times a day due to the huge amount of insulin I use. I also keep a spare meter too, call me crazy but I want to stay safe.
Strips are covered by my health plan too.
Peter
Where are the eBay sellers getting the strips?
Found strips at deep discounts at HealthWarehouse.com
Service has been very good.
Is accu-chek on the formulary list? They are also a pretty popular, reliable brand of meters.
after much searching, i learned that the drug program was not the place to go – it was the health insurance itself, covered as medical equipment. the is an especially frustrating concern when two separate companies are supplying services – the drug plan people could only tell me what was not in their formulary as individual name brands – i would say, is this covered, they would say “no” – then i would say, is that covered and they would say “no”-- so I would ask “what IS covered?” and they would be unable to answer that question – big BLACK HOLE of non-information. Finally, I expressed frustration to the person administering the medical coverage – and they said, “try it as durable medical equipment” so I submitted a claim, and it was covered!
In the mean-time, I found a discount house for strips at half the over-the-counter price. try healthwarehouse.com if you are looking for good service, good prices
Glad to hear you got some useful feedback from the insurance! Are your strips completely not covered, or is there a deductable, or does the insurance only cover a limited amount?
yeah, it was a big relief
as a part of the medical plan, it is first subject to the overall deductible. Once the deductible is satisfied, strips are covered at 80%. So far, I haven’t bounced up against any monthly limits – a good thing since I test up to 10 times a day right now.
If I were purchasing over counter, I would get 100 strips for $20 after the insurance paid. With the discount supply house, it costs me $10 for 100 strips – way cooler. I talked the insurance company to recognize the discount house as “in network” since these prices are significantly lower than their price at their normal supply houses. (non-network suppliers are covered at 70% in my PPO plan)
Whew! I’m soooo glad! I just went retail for 100 One Touch strips to test out their monitors, and spent $85. (I never cut over to a different monitor “cold turkey”, and I ran into a serious bout of “meter curiosity” reading everyone’s meter discussions… I’m mostly happy with my Freestyle Flash, but it is getting a bit long in the tooth…) My strips are currently covered 100% (no co-pay, no limit), but when they were not, I would always go through mail-order discount houses to save money.
TuDiabetes members get a 5% discount at healthwarehouse.com
Check out this link for the information.
I have both the One Touch Ultra Smart and the Wave Sense Presto. I like them both a lot. THe One touch is great because you can enter your medications, your exercise, flag before and after meals. You can even enter the nutritional info for each meal. It then will give you your meal averages, graph them for you, tell you what percentage was out of your acceptable range, etc. THe wave presto doesn’t really allow you to flag the meals, it does it for you based on the time of day. But the strips are much cheaper and it is much smaller. THe readings are only 1-2 points different from the one touch.