[Strawberry]

I'm not a happy consumer. Back in July I drove to our local pharmacy to pick up the blood glucose test strips that I needed. I paid my co-pay which was $225 for 450 strips that covered 90 days. Now.....the same pharmacy wants me to pay an additional $125 because they said Medicare and my supplement plan have refused to pay anything towards those test strips. Sigh......some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. But hey....Christmas is coming soon and I will get to see my grandson

 

[breezeonby]

I'm not a happy consumer. Back in July I drove to our local pharmacy to pick up the blood glucose test strips that I needed. I paid my co-pay which was $225 for 450 strips that covered 90 days. Now.....the same pharmacy wants me to pay an additional $125 because they said Medicare and my supplement plan have refused to pay anything towards those test strips. Sigh......some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. But hey....Christmas is coming soon and I will get to see my grandson

I can see why you are not happy. What type of test strip are you using?

 

[Shanny]

And it took 'em six MONTHS to figure that out?! I'd be furious! Did you fall through the donut hole?

 

[Strawberry]

As of July 1st I was using Freestyle test strips with the OmniPod (which Medicare doesn't recognize, much less pay for). So I was pretty much on my own as far as paying for testing supplies. What makes me disgusted is that it took the pharmacy 6 months to come after me.

Currently I use OneTouch test strips and that meter "talks" to my pump telling it what my BG is right when I test. It was my understanding that Medicare pays towards test strips, but not in my case.

Yep, I'm in the donut hole. I have a long list of prescriptions and I only came into Medicare July 1st and fell into the donut hole Sep 1st.

 

[thcri]

To make things worse them test strips probably cost less than a cent to make. Maybe even less than a 1/2 of a cent.

 

[Strawberry]

thcri -

Yep, you're so right. The profit from the test strips is why many meter mfg can afford to give their meters away for free. They know they are going to more than recoup the cost of the meter from the sales of the test strips for said meter.

 

[breezeonby]

As of July 1st I was using Freestyle test strips with the OmniPod (which Medicare doesn't recognize, much less pay for). So I was pretty much on my own as far as paying for testing supplies. What makes me disgusted is that it took the pharmacy 6 months to come after me.

Currently I use OneTouch test strips and that meter "talks" to my pump telling it what my BG is right when I test. It was my understanding that Medicare pays towards test strips, but not in my case.

Yep, I'm in the donut hole. I have a long list of prescriptions and I only came into Medicare July 1st and fell into the donut hole Sep 1st.

That is a shame. Medicare should pay for some part of your test strips since they do pay 80% of most. It is hard to argue with the government though. Oh my, only a few months and already in the donut hole. I hope you get one of those checks for $250!

 

[Strawberry]

breezeonby,

As if being diabetic isn't bad enough, I also have hypertension, hypothyroid and high cholesterol. I take meds for hypertension and hypothyroid, but just can't tolerate statins for the cholesterol. But there are some doctors that blame me for being overweight so I brought on the diabetes. Some days I can't win.

 

[jwags]

Since we have a high deductible HSA none of my strips are covered until I hit my extremely high deductible. I was hoping in a few years when Medicare kicks in I would be home free, I guess not. I shop for my strips on the internet. I can get 100 Contour strips on Amazon for $45. If you shop around or even consider changing strips you could probably do it cheaper. I was doing them through my local pharmacy for awhile but they recently raised prices to $115 per 100, ridiculous.

 

[DocWhitley]

I just argued with my Insurance the other day because Diabetic Medications and supplys are supposed to be at 0 Co-Pay but, when I went to re-fill my test strips they said $105... Ummmm No thanks!!!

So 4 hours on the phone being tossed from here to there and back to here the final results were in.

Supplies- must be ordered from a Medical Supply company

Medication- From a Pharmacy

But Victoza which I am going on is a Pen injection so since it is a Needle it is supposed to go through a Medical Supply but, they do not carry it because it is a Medication.... So I am getting an appeal for it! Now keep in mind I am getting an Appeal for something that is a 0 Deductible item whether it is medication or Medical Supply! Can someone please tell me What flavor Donut this is!