So, I go to the BiggieMart pharmacy this morning to pick up my strips. After reading a couple of discussions on this board, I was curious as to just how many strips my BCBS would cover for a month. So, I asked the pharmacist.
Rharm: "We don’t know. It depends on how often you test per month."
Me: "That is the question. How many strips for testing will my insurance pay for testing per month?"
Pharm: "The only way we can know is have your doctor write a prescription and say “test X times per day” and see if they cover them. About how often do you test a day?"
Me: “At least 5, sometimes 8.”
Pharm: "Oh my, that is a LOT. NO ONE tests that often.“
Me: Lady, you SERIOUSLY need to get more informed about diabetes if you think 5 a day is a lot.”
Am I nuts, or has the BiggieMart pharmacist lost her mind?
You have to consider the average diabetic they are likely to encounter. We (meaning the ones who do above and beyond the “bare minimum”) are actually the minority…
I had a heck of a time getting Walgreens to fill a prescription for U500 recently. I’m using it not because of resistance, but a sensitivity to one of the preservatives used in all insulin (and U500 means I can inject less of that preservative)… and they didn’t seem to grasp why I would opt to use such a “dangerous” medication when my insulin needs didn’t dictate that it “should” be necessary. They are all morons, I’m convinced.
ETA, I’ve never had any trouble getting 300 strips a month, which is what Humana allows… and that has nothing to do with what type of D you have. I could probably get more, if I wanted to go through the process of getting a higher RX authorized.
Some T-2s that are well regulated/ not on insulin test once a day or a couple times a week.
This then carries over into the insurance companies thinking and restrictions. Your Pharm is right, if the Dr orders more for a T-2 they typically insurance are not going to balk at the Dr’s orders. Thats what my Dr did for me 4 X a day as a T-2.
Having said that a T-2 on insulin basal/bolus that number would not be unusual. They must not have many people on insulin coming into that Pharm or the Pharm is aweful green.
Bottom line twist your Dr’s arm to write the prescription. Testing strips are lot cheaper than complications.
here’s a link you might find interesting.
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/how-often-do-you-check-your
your a1c is awesome! I’m type 1, and my scrip is for 8-10 times a day. BC/BS did not question the doctor’s order.
Hmmm, I consider once in the AM when I get up, 2 hours after each meal, and before bedtime to be the minimum. That’s 5 a day or 150 or so per month. I guess my GP really beat that number into me when I was diagnosed. 
Whenever I am going to eat something “new” I test before eating and 2 hours after eating. I have a T1 friend that tests 10 times a day, easy. Maybe BiggieMart has only T2’s for the most part.
My script is for testing 8 times a day, but I know sometimes I test more.
I guess some pharmacists are used to people not caring and barely testing. I got used to frequent testing when I was pregnant with my kids, and it is a hard habit to stop.
Some days I wonder, but I don’t wonder too much.
She’s a bit uninformed.
Hey Pete no disrespect here but a bit???
In June I had to change pharmacies for my insulin because I started on a pump and have to go thru a DME provider to get my insulin now. When I went in to pick up the insulin, the pharmacist asked me about getting my strips thru them. I said that I had just gotten a new 90 day supply but I didn’t have a problem switching to them. During the discussion, I mentioned that I test 18 times a day - they didn’t have anyone testing more than 3 times a day. I think those of us that participate in the DOC are striving for tighter control and tend to test more, but unfortunately, that is not the norm for the average diabetic.
They must be new on the job. Lets hope thats why she didn’t know that some test up to 10x a day if not more.
I am type 2 and test 9 times a day per my doctor
Outside of some endos, I think it is rare for those even in the medical community to understand how many times a day we tezr. If you don’t know someone who tests often as with pumping and MDI they don’t understand. I test 7-10 times per day at minimum and many of my coworkers are surprised by that. It is routine for inpatients at he hospital to have only pre meal testing if they aren’t on an insulin drip IV.
I test 7 times a day. Before and after every meal and once before bed.
My insurance only pays for enough test strips to test twice a day. They won’t change that because my prescription is for twice a day. I talked to the doctor and he won’t change it. He says I don’t need to test more than that. He says all the extra numbers would just confuse me.
I have managed to find a source of test strips on line that is much cheaper than full retail, though more than my insurance co-pay. So I just buy the rest.
So thats just the way it is. The pharmacist knows the insurance company will only cover what the doctor has prescribed. He doesn’t probably care either way, and would gladly sell you more strips at full retail, i.e. outside of insurance.
Before you do that check around on the interenet. There’s lots of sources for test strips.
Don’t want to bother your pretty little head with all those confusing numbers, Jeff:) Heaven forbid you have more information & demand more from him.
I’ll never understand doctors discouraging people from testing. Hear this frequently.
I find it amazing as a newly diagnosed diabetic with a high a1c at diagnosis that your doctor won’t prescribe you with more strips. I would personally find a new practitioner if this was the case.(as in your profile)
No offense taken. I was going for “under statement” }8-/ I was kind of surprised by the idea she holds in her pointed little head. You can’t be the only diabetic they serve that manages aggressively, can you?
So, as I ask that question I consider my own perception. I don’t know of another T1 in my day-to-day, face-to-face interactions. I live in a very populated metropolitan center. I recently caught my pharmacy short on Humalog. I have to wonder if it was because they go through the stuff like they’re having a sale or if it’s just me and my new prescription was 2x my past requirement. The law of averages must prevail. This place should be bustin’ with the pancreatically challenged.
show her this site
i had an on call doctor absolutely refuse to write a scrip for more than 4 test strips a day. it was amazing.
I am a health care “consumer.” If I don’t get the care I want from a doctor: Bye-Bye! I went through a buncha urologists until I found one that wanted to help me get RID of kidney stones, and not milk me like a cash cow. It boggles my mind that a physician could be so azz-backwards as to limit the number of times that a diabetic can test. Essentially, they are causing thier patients to walk around with a blindfold on for big parts of the day as to thier BG’s. What happened to “first, do no harm?” Pffft.
A few years ago, when I took in my script for 300 strips, the pharmacist told me that there was “no way” the insurance would cover those because “nobody” needs that many. She treated me with disdain and acted with I was going to sell them on the bad. It made me so angry. My insurance has ALWAYS paid for 300 strips, and did that time as well.