I couldn't find anything about this searching, so here goes...
Last week I received an email from a sales person at Dexcom that my system was more than a year old, and that I should get a new receiver and transmitter. Being the cynical former accountant, I immediately thought that someone was trying to meet their sales quota for the quarter. I had heard that the transmitter has battery and has a useful life of about a year, but I hadn't heard about a useful life for the receiver.
So my question for you all is, "how often have you replaced your transmitter and receiver?"
I’ve had my receiver and transmitter for over 1.5 years and they both still work perfectly. So I don’t see why you’d want to change them until they aren’t working.
I am open to changing my transmitter. I don’t want to be without one. I questioned the receiver. According to Dexcom, insurance won’t pay for just a transmitter; only for a transmitter and a receiver.
I haven’t heard that from Dexcom (replacing both at once)… but different insurance companies probably treat it differently. That said, I’ve never had the Dexcom rep call and tell me my Seven+ receiver or transmitter needs to be proactively replaced.
brad, i have had my transmitter go bad after about 17-18 months and the reciever was still good, this was on the first Dexcom about 5years ago,…i tried to order a new transmitter, but they said that this transmitter was not being sold anymore and that i could upgrade for $300…i thought this was kind of bullsit, but then the new transmitter use to sell for $200 approx, so i liked the device so much, i bit the bullet and didnt complain anymore and got the new one…then about 2 more years go by and they did the same thing, they said you had to upgrade to the Dexcom 7 and they would not sell the sensors or the transmitters any more…so again i bit the bullet, but i only did it this time because i was not paying and insurance was covering it…THE PRODUCT IS WICKED GOOD…but i hope they dont do this again…the receiver has a re-chargeable battery and should last in-definitely, it would be nice if you could re-charge the transmitter battery but they should last 2 years
Like I wrote, I suspect end of quarter sales quotas were part of it. I have contacted my CDE to see what she had to say, but I haven’t heard from her yet.
Maybe the whole insurance story is true, not sure about that. But there is no reason for the receiver to be changed, unless it get damaged, or the batteries start to suffer from too many charging cycles.
Of course the weak point is the transmitter. I’ve used mine for 18 months now without a problem. But I have a new one waiting in the cupboard, just in case…
By the way, the trasmitter is more expensive that the receiver, if bought separately.
My original one was shipped August 30, 2009 so I was several weeks past one year. Being in different states (I’m in NJ and your profile says KY) we probably have different sales reps. Maybe yours had met Q3 quota and mine hadn’t.
The rep never said that a new transmitter wouldn’t work with my existing receiver so I can’t comment on a frequency change. He just said that insurance covered replacing both pieces, not just the transmitter. I’m going to wait another month or two and then get new ones. I want them on this year’s insurance since I have already met my deductable.
Don’t you just love managing health care based on insurance rules and regulations? I really shouldn’t complain, my insurance has covered all my diabetic needs; both durable and consumable. I especially appreciate its covering test strips. I didn’t used to know that they were covered, and I would purchase them over the counter. It cost about $100 for a supply that lasted 25 days if I didn’t have to do extra tests, which never happened.
I’m expecting a new one any day. My insurance covers a new one, once a year. I have noticed that the distance that the transmitter can transmit has gone downhill within the past month.
