Seriously!?!

A few days ago, I received an email from AT&T where I took an early retirement from in 2004. The Subject Line: You have been invited to join DiabetesManager, presented by AT&T mHealthcare Solutions.

The email described a system where you could input your blood sugars into an app on your smartphone and receive coaching from your healthcare team, get an on-line logbook, graphs and other tools. I liked the idea that I might get some input from my healthcare team without having to schedule appointments.

After some noodling around, and a lot of concerns about giving the company that provides my health insurance too much info, I decide to give it a try, so I click the link and eventually get to a screen labeled: "Let's find out if you are a candidate".

There are four questions:

Are you over 21?
Are you pregnant?
Are you on a pump?
Do you have Type 1?

When I say "Yes" to the pump question, there is an immediate pop-up that says I am NOT a candidate. Seriously? So just to see what would happen, I say "No".

Then I say "Yes" to T1D and there is the same pop-up! Now I am a little perturbed. Couldn't the original email have said the program was open to non-pumping, Type 2 diabetics?

Seriously!

I googled "DiabetesManager, presented by AT&T mHealthcare Solutions" and it is an interesting concept to put out to health plan members, but definitely designed at this point to assist only those who are non-pumping, type 2, but with AT&T's projection that the US alone will spend 3.40 Trillion on diabetes related care over the next decade, you can't blame them for trying a mobile solution to get feedback and coaching out to members.

I've had to change health insurance sources quite a bit over my career. All of them have something similar, and yes they all seem to be lost when it comes to Type 1s. Some are better than others, but they all seem to be geared for Type 2s.

like Scott, they are pretty clueless about type1. Our BC/BS made us sign up for one. a nurse called and asked me a gazillion questions. she had never heard of the words basal or bolus, and could not believe I've had it 45 years with not haoing ever had a heart attack, much less have to call 911 because of my diabetes. I had to plead with them to stop calling.

Cheryl,

Thanks - clearly there are many more T2s than T1s out there, I just felt they could have identified the target audience in the email.

Also, I know I received the invite because AT&T carries my health insurance (IOW, there ARE records that show I am T1 and on a pump) - Hello?!? (HIPPA might prevent this info from being shared?)

Yeah...I regret ever signing up for one of these services. They hounded me non-stop for about 6 months and then I stopped answering their phone calls. They left messages every month for the next 2 years asking me to call them. They stopped calling so I assume they think I'm dead or finally got a clue that I wasn't going to answer the phone. They sell themselves as "nurses", but at best I am guessing they are CNA's because they are clueless.

@Jim - and the "C" in CNA stands for ... :)

@Marie and @Scott Wilkins - THX for your comments - sigh - I guess we T1s are just special!