Omnipod Warranty Question

Question for those who might know. When I got my Omnipod I was on Blue Cross and I seem to remember the pump was warrantied for 5 years? I am now on Medicare and I think Medicare just warranties it for 4 years?

Of course I just got sent the notice in February that my warranty was expiring in March. And of course my PDM has just decided to start losing it’s memory of it’s date when I replace the battery. And then it makes me put on a new pod. Twice in a row now with the battery change. Luckily it still keeps the rest of it’s memory for now. Last time that happened they replaced the PDM.

But it’s only been 4 years. I had wanted to wait for a little while before I got a new pump because I know we are stuck for the 4 years once we get one. So if it was 5 years on regular insurance I want to see if I can push that point. But I wanted to know if anyone knows what the warranty usually is before Medicare.

I had wanted to wait to know how people end up liking the newer pump that Omnipod is coming out with ( I know they always usually upgrade it for you). But I also know Tandem is supposed to be coming out with a patch pump with the ability to change the infusion set. That could be important to me because I have been having more of an issue with my pods.

Anyone have some more information on the warranties?

1 Like

Omnipod is only covered by Part D Prescription plans and those plans are administered by private companies. So my understanding (and experience) is that Omnipod is not subject to Medicare warranties because those warranties apply to DME.

A few years ago I wanted to try out Omnipod in order to Loop. I got Omnipod under my Part D plan and very quickly hated it. I easily went back to my tandem pump and actually I could have gotten pods and Tandem supplies simultaneously if I were using both or alternating between them.

That being said, some people report getting the original Eros pods under Part B Medicare DME and then Dash pods under Part D. That was not my experience and my Eros pods were covered by my Part D plan. It would seem to me that if you got Eros pods under DME, you might be subject to Medicare warranties.

I have had to deal with this. It’s really no problem as far as the pump functionality, the only issue is the internal battery does not keep the time/date memory when you replace the batteries.

The simple solution is to just replace the batteries every few weeks between pods!

When it’s time for a battery change, wait until the pod expires or is about to expire. 1) deactivate your pod, 2) replace the batteries, 3) reset the time/date, and 4) activate the new pod. Will work just the same, no problem. Just gotta remember to do it proactively between pods whenever the battery is getting low.

:smirk:
I have not heard a lot of positives on their new PDM.

1 Like

This 4 year 5 year issue has been a thing for a while.

Generally speaking, if your pump is still working after year 4 you need to wait until year 5 to get an new one.

But if it’s broken, they will replace it.

That’s how private insurance has handled that in recent years.

I think its the reverse. For Medtronic, I know it is 5 years under Medicare, as Timothy described.
For omnipod, the durable part is the controller, so MC may treat that similar to tubed pump warranty.