Comments on: Caught in the Healthcare Hole

By: Tink1272

Tink1272 — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:30:47 +0000

I wonder, since I have been having this problem only recently, what the deal is with insulin.

It says to throw it out 28 days after first using it. My insurance will not cover a refill until 30 days after it was last filled. On the insurance website it says that I should be paying $25 for ten units, and the pharmacy says the insurance tells them to bill me $50 per 10 units.

I’m so confused by this, that I am forced to go to mail order, even though I don’t have a credit card or a checking account.

I also love that my insurance pay such strange amounts for my appointments, that I get bills for 60 cents and $1.32. Strangest thing.

By: Camille Johnson

Camille Johnson — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:34:34 +0000

1. I am a self-payer (un-insured), Type I diabetic for 35 years.
2. Still, I am amazed at the info about ‘medical supplies’. Why doen’t we know that after all these years.
3. People should know about the brand, “ReliOn” Blood Glucose Test Strips. Cost: $21 for 50 strips at Walmart. That’s right. Less than $.50/strip.
4. People should know that insurance companies by nature;
a) try very diligently to NOT pay claims. Expect it.
b) Insurance Companies are one of the top three profitable industries.
c) They are, in fact, just another cog in the wheel of efficient health care, sopping up money that could be going to lower health care costs.
5. Which all points to the advantages of a Single Payer system.

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:25:22 +0000

The last time I refilled syringes, they came through totally covered instead of 80%. I was curious so I called and asked why and they said it had been submitted as “medical supplies” instead of as a prescription and our medical supplies are covered at 100%. So I dug a little deeper and got the name of a local “medical supplier” (which is also a pharmacy) and discovered that all our medical supplies can be covered at 100%, and that covers the test strips also!! I was shocked! Why didn’t I know this? We already have good coverage and I thought that paying $260/yr for mail order strips was a pretty good deal. Now we are getting them free, along with the syringes, needles, lancets, etc. I am amazed and happy, but also a tiny bit perturbed that I didn’t know this before, especially since I think I do a pretty good job at keeping myself informed about our insurance coverage. Why didn’t I read this somewhere? Why did I have to discover it through a “mistake”?

By: tMAc

tMAc — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:02:15 +0000

It does make me mad. But what makes me even madder is how hard it is for D friends of mine without health insurance who are paying for this stuff on their own.

By: myra shoub

myra shoub — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:11:11 +0000

As a (former) health care researcher, type I for 30 years, and pump wearer for 24 years, I have been put through the wringer too many times to count. All I can say is to keep fighting, kick it up the insurance company ladder, and ask for intervention from your insurer if you work for a commercial concern or your insurance rep if you don’t. The insurers policies are meant to save them $$$ not help you. If they can save money by using uninformed and – well, stupid – customer service reps they will. The insurers totally save money on denial of care. How many people will fight for months the way we do? Keep up the fight!!!

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:37:27 +0000

I keep telling everyone that Obama will make things easier for all of us. My friend who works with the President tells me that he is deeply interested in Diabetes and thinks everything should be free for us. Yay. I’m so glad I voted for him. Yes!!!

By: Jim D

Jim D — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:24:27 +0000

Wow, it looks like we’re truly not alone in our misery. I’m now going through a new change in insurance since our company was recently bought out (by a healthcare company of all things). It’s always a nightmare, can I keep my Doctor, can I get my supplies (on-time? enough of them?) etc.
I’ve been through the “3 tests a day” strip limit placed on me by an insurance company (whadda ya mean you crashed your car because your bloodsugar was low?? You should test more often, you must be an out-of-control diabetic!!).
Luckily, for now at least, I’m getting enough insulin and test-strips. Previously, I’d fill my insurance share with the most expensive test strips, and then buy enough of the store-brand strips (and $8.00 meter) to be able to test enough.
I’ve had plan-authorized-doctors refuse to renew my insulin prescription until I came in and saw them! (Really, Type-1s need insulin to live??)
No wonder everyone is saying that we need healthcare reform, I just hope it’s not a “be careful what you wish for” scenario. It shouldn’t be bad though, because if the Government can successfully regulate Wall Street and the Banking industry like they have for the past decade, why not Heathcare?

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:09:48 +0000

While the “healthcare” system is for-profit, patients and doctors will be screwed in every way possible. If the insurance company can make a few extra billion hassling sick people and denying them care, what’s to stop them from doing so? Certainly not human decency or any laws I’m aware of. It will make their balance sheet healthier while people get sicker. It is BEYOND immoral.

And we should demand change, name and shame these companies in every way possible. I have no problem writing that Anthem Blue Cross of California does not cover my test strips, nor do they understand that “type 1 diabetes” doesn’t “improve with lifestyle.” I could run a marathon a week and I still wouldn’t make insulin. I have filed complaints with the CA insurance commissioner’s office, half a dozen times now. Dealing with insurance company nightmares is not just another fact of life or reality of being sick — it is abuse of human beings in the name of profit and the systematic de-valuing of human life. Appalling.

By: barbara

barbara — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:50:38 +0000

Your post could have been written by me, change the identities of the companies involved. I don’t know why they don’t get the idea that I have Type 1 diabetes and it will never go away…if it does, they will be the first to know!!
This is why I keep considering the idea of getting a medical tatoo on my chest stating the same….with the instructions to “give insulin.”

By: Anne Findlay

Anne Findlay — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:44:44 +0000

Every time I reorder strips I get questioned on why I am ordering so soon. And I can’t use the online forms because I am always refilling too soon. They will fill it if I explain. It sure would be nice not to have to do that, though, FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.