Ordered my first CGM

That makes no sense to me. I get zero coverage of any kind, government or insurance, for the G4. Why would a sensor cost so much? I don’t understand how the U.S. system works…

I’m in the US paying out of pocket. Dexcom has discounts for cash customers. Here is the cost breakdown:

Initial Kit: $1,500
Includes a receiver, transmitter and a box of 4 sensors.

Box of Sensors(4): $300
This price assumed that I was setup with autopay, which gives a $50/box discount.

Transmitter: $600 (or free)
If I regularly buy sensors (9 boxes a year) from them using autopay, they give me a free set of transmitters every 6 months.

First year cost: $4,800
Second year cost: $3,600

Since I have gotten more proficient with opsite flexfix, I am easily getting 21+ days per sensor, which gives me wiggle room. I still buy the sensors regularly, enough to get the discount, and this ensures I have some in reserve in case of zombie apocalypse.

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Lucky! No discounts or deals for cash in Canada (since practically everyone is paying by cash). I still don’t understand why anyone would be paying $200 for a sensor, unless they’re talking about a box of sensors, which isn’t what I was referring to with $85 (I was referring to just one individual sensor; a box of sensors costs $340).

Still working on getting my health insurer to cover the Dexcom. I bought G5 setup direct from Dexcom in July 2016 and spent so far:
$204 for transmitter kit; (2 transmitters, lasts 3 months each).
​$604 for receiver kit;
​$2,096 for 28 sensors (7 boxes, enough to last 1 year by getting 2 weeks out of each sensor).
By buying 7 boxes up front I qualified for a discount (can’t remember how much) which is reflected in those prices.

Only glitch with this method of getting a discount is the sensors have an “expiration date” of about 9 months when shipped (March 2017 expiration in my batch of sensors). So starting in April I will have about 3 months worth of “expired” sensors. I’ve spoken with Dexcom and understand they don’t recommend using them past the expiration date. Any users out there with experience using “expired” G5 sensors, would appreciate hearing how it went.

I’ve used this style of sensor six months to one year after expiration. You should follow the temperature, humidity, and moisture specifications for storage. I suspect the sensors would last even longer than that. I haven’t tried.

If you do this transaction again, you should specify a delivery schedule over time.

Sorry, I should have clarified. Personally, I pay nothing, thanks to my very good insurance coverage. But they include statements in the shipments that include the price/value, and it is equivalent to $200/sensor.

My understanding is that each insurance company negotiates a different price with each provider and vendor they work with, so there is no real transparent/consistent sticker price for anything medical in the US.

I have used expired sensors with no issues at all.

@Jen Just remember your $340 Canadian dollars per box works out to $260 US dollars so compared to @daytona we are getting a pretty good deal and don’t have to sign-up for “autopay” and still get a better price. So that is $65 US per sensor.

Animas always ships the sensors to me priority so I get the sensors in 1 or 2 days from the other side of the country in a giant box. I keep wondering if they shipped surface (like 1 week+) in a smaller box we could get a better deal.

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Since virtually everyone in Canada is paying out of pocket right now, we may well just be paying prices similar to the discounted rate. I don’t think our deal is bad, but I’ve never seen offers like free transmitters or a second receiver for $199 like the US seems to get.

That’s what they explained over the phone (the transmitter offer, they didn’t say anything about the receiver), but who know if that’s how it will really work out until I actually order new transmitter. :smile:

I called Dexcom on January 21st 2018 call after call to Dexcom they were saying the chart notes were incorrect form the Doctor then on July 23rd I finally got it on July 27th and August 24th I called and ordered the sensors a box of 4. On September 24th I ordered another box of sensors expected ship date on September 24th a week later I called Dexcom and here they go again with the chart notes being incorrect and they said the chart notes from March 3rd were expired. I wanted to know why they had the correct chart notes from March 3rd and why was the Dexcom G-5 not shipped then, Dexcom could not answer that question they didn’t know. Right now I had no sensors for a month I am out of test strips and Medicare will not pay for them since the billing for the CGM was started, what i should is go to Mercy Hospital ER 5 times a day and have them check my blood sugar not with a finger stick but with a CMP blood lab about $ 1K per visit and do that for a couple a months and see how Medicare will like that… I also have Hypoglycemia Unawareness my blood glucose will drop without the symptoms I was in a short term Diabetic coma 3 times before I got the CGM since I have no strips to check my blood sugar I’m taking my insulin. I called Edgepark but they don’t have a contract with medicare for the Dexcom neither does CCS Medical I will call ADW tomorrow and see if they do because I’m not dealing with Dexcom anymore…