Picked it up yesterday - forgoing the rep training have 3 visits scheduled at Joslin. Not a worlds record but the process took 3 months. Found out today that the insets and insulin refill stuff are considered a DME supply and not a diabetic supply so no longer subject to my modest nifty little 3 month diabetic supply copay but I am now out of pocket 20% of the cost sounds like 30-35 a month. Oh well I hope its worth it. I don’t really understand the logic though I use 5 or 6 different needles a day or 15-20 every 3 days as compared to one inset set, but now I am paying alot more. Should just be thankful for the insurance though they picked up the majority of the $4,750 for the pump. Ever wonder what the markup is on these babies?
Great news! Hope that you will get off to a good start (do you have the book Pumping Insulin by John Walsh? It helped me a lot when I was getting going on the pump!)
Also, from my experience the technical status of your supplies might also depend on WHO you order from. You should check if you order from a diabetes supplier if it can be classified as a diabetes supply in any way. Your insurance company won’t advise you on this, but if you call in network suppliers, they will be more likely to give advice because they want your business. Just an idea.
Thanks Kristen,
I ordered that book in the 4th addition tonight. I got similar advice from an out of network provider today as well they said try to a have a precription for the supplies written by my Endo guy who is a In Network provider. The insurance company kept sending me to my mail order pharmacy - who confirn they don’t carry insets… One of the reason I went with Animas was that the sets were not proprietary like Mini-Med. Are supplies cheaper in Budapest?
Hope that you are able to find a solution. I got my first pump in the USA (where I am originally from) and figuring a way to get it without having to pay a lot of money was tricky!
Now that I am living in Hungary (married to a Hungarian), I am under the national insurance here. The insurance covers 85% of the cost of the pump and pump supplies. So I still have to pay a substantial amount for it. But insulin is free and test strips virtually free… and as a diabetic I don’t pay any co-pays for doctors visits and exams. So all in all, it’s a pretty good deal, but many people here cannot afford the pump, even when paying only 15%. So still not perfect 
Hey Michael - welcome to the Animas world of pumping. After 40 years of MDI - I took the plunge to take up pumping (you should see the muscles in my arms now ) - and am enjoying it thoroughly. I’m surprised tho’ that Animas didn’t supply you with the book. When I got my pump - I had the 4th edition tucked into my kit (I had been using the 3rd edition for the past few years when I was using my “poor man’s pump” aka MDI). Maybe here in Canada they give a few more extras - who knows.
BTW Micheal - my A1C went from 7% to 5.7% at my last check up. That’s not because of hypos - which is what sometimes can lower a person’s A1C - I had more hypos when I was MDI - I just find better management of my BG’s with the pump due to the consistency of the basal rate (have tweaked it a few times to stay ahead of the game - but it’s really a no brainer).
Kristin - Hungary’s health system sounds similar to ours here in Canada. If we didn’t have private insurance from my hubby’s work - I’d never have been able to afford a pump - tho’ my hubby says that if ever he doesn’t have the insurance (e.g. retirement is coming up for both of us in 10 years) - we’ll find a way to keep me on the pump - due to the improvement in life that I’ve found since going onto it. Maybe I’ll work part time as a pole dancer to pay the bills (good exercise!!!).