A reminder for Animas (and Roche) pump users in regards to the Tandem Welcome Program.
This program is available for Animas and Roche pump users with an Animas warranty which expires ON OR BEFORE September 30, 2019.
This offer is available until March 31, 2018 meaning that if this is something that you may be interested in, NOW is the time to call and get more information. Assuming no extension, this program is only accepting applicants for another six weeks.
This program comes with a 60 day return period which is IMHO extremely generous. As always, the details are often in the fine print. Some of the important aspects (exclusions and such) are available immediately on the website per the link below.
No technology or solution is appropriate for everybody. Choices are nice. If this is a choice that might fit your needs then perhaps worth taking a look.
Thanks for the reminder. The offer excludes those on Medicare. According to Medicare, all I have to do is re-qualify at any time to get a new one because my pump manufacturer, Animas, has gone out of business. I am very interested in the Tandem. However, I have decided to wait two years until Animas supplies are no longer available through Medtronics and reassess the marketplace then. I have the feeling that many changes will happen in the next few years. Maybe something really awesome will be available…
@Willow4 - That is great information !!! Seems far more reasonable than one often hears.
We actually ran our Animas Ping two years past end of warranty as we liked it and had not made up our mind what we were going to switch to.
I would suggest you might want to stock up on the battery caps and the cartridge covers in case those start to become hard to find. And be careful with the force you put on the battery cap - my belief is an engineering defect allows the Animas battery cap to be over-tightened which can result in cracking the Animas case body.
This is my second Animas Ping. Also ran my first one 2 years past the 5-year Medicare required warranty. Had no problems but got antsy with no warranty backup so got another Ping. Animas offered great client support. I have extra caps. Also have an extra Ping that works well. The only time my Ping case cracked was one winter when I was wearing mega clothes and squeezed through a farm pipe gate, which I could easily do in summer. Animas had a replacement to me within 24 hours!
Amy,
I am sorry. I know how expensive these things are. And I know you are also having to take care of Taranga’s surgery. All of this stuff can get very expensive. When I was looking at pumps, cost was definitely a factor.
BTW, I loved your gofundme page for your cat’s surgery. That was cute. I hope you can get help for her. gofundme.com/taragnatreatment
How about this for a welcome to Tandem! Tandem goes through Solara. My insurance company, on three way conference call, has told Solara that they will cover me !00% for new pump. All they need is the letter that Medicare has denied me. Solara will not submit my info to Medicare because they know I will be denied. So, no denial letter from Solara, my insurance won’t/can’t cover pump for me, even though it is covered by my policy.
To make it more interesting, my Animas pump is malfunctioning with a lot of occlusions.
Sigh!
thank you eddie. she is feeling like her normal self but has a long way to go still… it amazes me that tandem isnt doing what medtronic is doing. switching out your pump. im not sure how many people can afford the $999 tho. its like getting the IPHone x. i was excited about tandem having something for animas customers but again the price, makes it hard for some of us. plus im in massachusetts and on medicare which isnt allowed in the program at least from when i read the excluded part of the page.
Tandem has a new Upgrade Program in place. It has a few elements of the previous program but is overall quite different.
This program is for non-Tandem Pump users who want a Tandem pump now but have significant time remaining on their warranty on their current pump and therefore would not typically be able to get the Tandem for quite some time.
If interested, read all the details directly on the Tandem page describing this:
The gist of it as I read the offer:
Tandem t:slim X2 w/Basal-IQ
This is for users of non-Tandem (obviously) pumps who have six months or more left on their warranty.
$999 one-time payment
Ability to use the Basal-IQ algorithm requires the Dexcom G6 cgm which is sold separately by Dexcom
Program Period for the customer runs the length of time of the remaining warranty on the customer’s current non-Tandem pump
At the end of the Program Period, the pump is returned to Tandem
Offer expires December 31, 2018 (ie - end of this year)
There are quite a few limitations and exclusions listed on the webpage.
@Kristy13
Any reason that is the deal breaker? That sounded like the minor part to me.
It is basically renting a Tandem pump for the remainder of your warranty period. When the warranty is up then you are likely getting a new pump through insurance? Tandem obviously hopes that through this program you have decided you prefer the Tandem pump and so would get a new Tandem pump through your insurance company. You return the “loaner” and get a new Tandem pump that comes with a new 4 year warranty.
If you decide you really didn’t like the Tandem and opt to get a different new pump from an alternative company then you return the loaner and get a new pump from some other company.
It was all the exclusions listed on the webpage that seemed more likely to make it non-applicable to many people. But strictly that was my opinion.
Well $1000 is a lot of money. I might consider that type of program if I didn’t have a warranty ending so soon (before next summer). But just having the pump as a loaner is not appealing giving the high cost. I realize that this is less than the cost of a new pump. I believe my last Medtronic pump that I had put through insurance was between $2,500 and $3,000. It has been a while though and I have a new insurance company. Honestly I’m not interested in the newest Medtronic pump and am considering waiting for the Tandem/Dexcom closed loop to get approved through the FDA next year. I have used a Dexcom CGM since before starting a pump and currently use it with my Medtronic pump. So I do see the appeal of trying it before purchasing. But, $999 is a lot of money.
I wish they actually had a prorated option or one that was less expensive. I would like to try before I buy. I have a lot of problems with lows and I would like the option of automatic suspend. I did an upgrade with my Medtronic pump and it has that option but their CGM was never accurate for me. So a few months after I got my pump I switched back to Dexcom.
Thanks for the information. I definitely back any pump system that has Dexcom integrated.
That was our #1 item when we were looking to switch pumps (from Animas).
My thoughts on any cgm integrated algorithm is you have to start with a basic assumption of trusting the cgm data. If you don’t trust the cgm data then nothing else (from a cgm integrated point of view) is relevant.
Yes that’s very true. My blood sugars fluctuate a lot and my Dexcom has always been reliable. If I had to choose between insulin pump or CGM. I would definitely pick my Dexcom.
Willow4 back in Jan 18 you stated
According to Medicare, all I have to do is re-qualify at any time to get a new one because my pump manufacturer, Animas, has gone out of business.
Do you remember when you obtainded this information from Medicare? Neither I or regional Tandem pump representative have been able to verify this from medicare.
You can’t verify this information because it was wrong! I contacted Medicare by phone just as soon as I found out that Animas was going out of business. At the time, Medicare was not even aware of it. I spoke with several reps in their Durable Equipment Department and finally found myself speaking with a supervisor. That’s when I was told to just requalify. Subsequently, I was told that I could only get a Medtronics pump. It was “illegal” for any other company to sell me an insulin pump before my Animas warranty expires in 2021. I find that to be unfair and coercive. But there seems to be nothing one can do about it.
My new thought is, does my Animas warranty expire when Medtronics ceases to service it at the end of September 2019? Would I then be able to get that Tandem? Remains to be seen.
Oops! Forgot that Medtronics announced last fall that as of November 12, 2018 they would no longer replace Animas pumps with an Animas but swap it out for a Medtronics. I guess they short-circuited the above thought.
When I recently spoke with Medicare, they insisted that it was wonderful of Medtronics to swap out an Animas with their own insulin pump for free. NOT!
