My insurance company will only allow me 2400 test strips per year.Today when I called up to order some, the pharmacy called back and told me that I wouldn't be allowed any strips til January 27 2013.So I called my insurance company and they said I used my quota.I figured it out that 365 days in a year divided by 2400 means I can only test 6x a day!That is crazy.What do I do before bed and my basal tests?I see my doctor in November so I will get him to increase that amount.I test at least 7x a day,more if I have eaten differently and when I exercise.Thanks for letting me vent.
My insurance will only pay for 4 tests per day. And that was with an infinite amount of haggling by me and my healthcare team.
So I have to supplement with the Target generics.
I was in a similar position before but I was uninsured. I lived on Reli-On (Walmart) R and N insulin and Reli-On meters and test strips.
So walmart is another possible place to go for the rest of the year until you can get to see your doctor.
Also, just be aware that the doctor raising your testing to 7x per day may not change what your insurance will allow per year. You may have to get your doctor to call the insurance company and explain why testing 7 or 8 times a day will help you improve your health and help lower your health care costs.
You would think that insurance companies would know that but some don’t.
Good luck.
I think you should demand quite a few more. I've come up with this scheme that seems to suggest 12 is more appropriate, as a minimum. Sometimes some of these can get trimmed but I usually end up testing around 13x / day when it's all said and done. I do ok on tests, etc. after having diabetes since 1984 and suspect that some of the reason is from pressing the doctors and insurance company for what I consider an adequate number of strips. Re the exercising, it's not so much "running 6 miles" as moving for 30 minutes, however you choose to move. I don't believe their are any doctors who will say "you shouldn't exercise" so they should be projecting adequate strips to support that, even if you don't exercise, and continue using other means to press you to move.
1) wake up, test bg
2) before eating test BG
3) before driving to work test bg
4) 2 hours after eating test bg
5) lunch test BG
6) 2 hours post lunch test bg
7) drive home test BG
8) get home, run 3 miles...oh wait, don't forget to test your bg!
9) post-exercise maybe, maybe not, maybe eat dinner and, you guessed it, test BG
10) 2 hours post BG, test BG ****AGAIN****
12) stay up late? Maybe squeeze in another one, what if you have errands to run, what if you want to exercise more (when it's nicer out, I'll run 6-7 miles during the week, more on the weekends...a lot of times, I'll run a long run on Saturday and then a 20ish mile bike ride for fun, speed and recovery on Sunday...there's several extra strips in there...).
I think we often end up as adversaries of our insurance companies. Test strips are an example. In many cases, you can get the number of test strips that you need and deserve covered by simply having your doctor write a letter of medical necessity. We all feel for you. If you are using an intensive insulin regime, you are injecting your basal and three times a day, you need to be testing at at least 6-8 times a day and if you have to drive, suffer lows, or exercise like Acid, you need more. Your doctor makes the medical treatment decision on when and how many times you should be testing. Your insurance company can have their rules to save money, but it is not their place to make medical decisions for your. Sometimes, they also are not very forthcoming about the process of getting a medical letter of necessity. Sometimes you have to mouth the magic words and suddenly there is a process for getting the strips you need. I hate that, I feel like I have been decieved.
"Deceived" is a good way to put it Brian! The doc asks you what you need, you tell him what you are using, the doc writes it down and it becomes engraved in stone. It bothers me a great deal that doctors have to write a letter instead of an RX because of insurance companies. I can't imagine that there's anyone at insurance companies who'd actually read such a thing which, to me, sounds like it's some fat (not the useful sort of dietary fat...) that could be trimmed out of the healthcare system to give doctors more time to do things that might actually help their patients!
What I did in a similar situation was write a letter of medical necessity for my doctor. I brought it in, he signed it, put it in his fax machine and sent it to the insurance company. That way, I wasn't relying on my doctor to remember something outside the appointment or having him write something that only said half of what I needed.
I do have to do it every year, because otherwise, the insurance company tries to reduce my strips again on the theory that maybe I've miraculously stopped having diabetes in the past year.
I had this same problem last year. I test about 12 to 20 times I day. I got my doctor to send in a request for more strips. You just have to prove that testing more often helps you control your BS level better.
I had to do the same thing this year, my insurance company was going to allow 200 a month but my endo sent in a letter of medical necessity and I am now getting 12 strips per day. He said I am hypo-unaware and if I get in my car and don't check I could be putting my life and others lives in danger. They pretty much weren't going to argue with it and possibly face a law suit.
i only get three a day here on the socialized medicine in spain. i dont know what i would do without the target/walmart cheap stuff!
Thank-you to everyone who sees things in my perspective.I am not working as much right now so I am not using what I usually do.I like the idea of what Teowyn did.I think I will right a documented letter for my doctor to send along with his recommendation.Good idea.
It worked everybody!!!My insurance company has added a greater quantity of test strips,I just don't know how many.I will find out tomorrow when I go to reorder.
Congrats I hope they are generous with you. Since I wrote my post I have gotten a Dexcom CGM system and find now I have cut way back on my testing in fact today I completely forgot to bring my glucometer to work with me. And I didn't miss it at all.