How many other diabetics out there think it is a total scam with the amount of test strips you can get at one time. I use an Accucheck compact plus. I can only get about 102 strips at a time. Now, if you are testing like you are supposed to 5-8x’s a day or so, you are back in the pharmacy every 15-20 days. I think this is a total scam and the insurance companies or whoever decides how many strips you get at a time only care about the bottom line-how much money they can make. I have wrote my Congressman about this (waiting to hear a reply). I also think that they could easily come out with a meter where you can reuse the same strip. With the accucheck you press the button and the strip comes out. How about when you are done instead of the machine spitting out the strip, it sucks it back in, cleans it up and it is ready to go again. How much easier would the life of a diabetic be if you didnt have to worry about how many test strips to pack when you go to work or vacation.
I also propose the same thing for the insulin pens. Everyone knows you can reuse the needles on the pen, but after a while it does start to wither. How about the pens come with a needle that lasts the duration of the pen. When the pen is completely done, the needle retracts and you throw it all out. You don’t have to worry about packing the needles anymore. I mean come on how hard would this be. Again, I think it comes down to making money. Any input would be appreciated.
Of course, it’s all about profit. We’re an extremely profitable & captive group. Everything we need is for life, everything we need is disposable, constant daily demand for the products we need to survive. It’s a capitalist dream disease. There’s a way to make strips more affordable, but that’s not what business is about.
Have you asked your doctor to give you an Rx for more strips?. Had mine write a prescription for testing 10x day. I take injections & had him up my syringe Rx also.
Love your ideas! I’d be thrilled to have meters that were more accurate, Who cares about colors & no coding!
I had my Endo write a script for testing 8-10x/day. My monthly co-payment for strips is $7.00 so I ended up getting 900 strips (3 months) for $21. I use 10/ day and if i had to pay for it out of pocket it would kill me.
My endo wrote a scrip for 400 per month and my BCBS insurance wanted to cover only half that. I went through the pre-auth process to get an exemption and now happily get my 400 freestyle strips for $22.70 every month at my Walgreens.
could you tell me more about this pre-auth process privately? I have BCBS and they only cover 200 - I have to pay the rest using that freestyle card out of my pocket
Gerri,
Thank you for replying to my posting. I am definetely going to call my endo first thing Monday morning to try to get more strips at one time. 100 strips is certainly not enough for a type 1 diabetic. If I could get 400 or so strips every time I picked up my prescription that would help me out alot.
Kevin
I am having a super bad attitude about this now because it is exactly the same thing I am dealing with. I am hoping that on Monday my endo. does the override or whatever. I think that it is so sad when our insurance companies are asking us to compromise our care. If I am trying to do what I need to do to keep myself going well then my insurance company should support this and not try to fight me on it. With the Cozmo it is much easier to use the Cozmonitor because it goes right into the pump. Otherwise you have to enter it in. It is doable, but not the best thing. I think that it is total BS and I am really upset by this. $$$$$ is what’s important, not my health!
I just posted a new discussion about how to obtain authorization for a quantity level limit exemption.
In layman’s terms, I just posted what you can do to get this fixed.
Kevin,
Don’t know why doctors don’t always write scripts for testing 10x day. 100 strips–ha! If your insurance gives you any flack you can dispute it & win, but I hope you won’t have this aggravation.
Click here to read the discussion.