Omnipod?

[pandeia]

Does anyone know of the omnipod and what the cost is compared to that of a pump? I've heard it's cheaper than the pump at start-up costs, but it gets to be more expensive than a pump after a few months...? :confused:

[Nifr]

It will mostly depend on your insurance. The PDM (that checks your blood sugar and tells your pod what to do) comes with 2 pods and an instruction book. That cost is around $800. The pods themselves are around $35 each and come in boxes of 10, so approximately $350.00 for a box. This is all before anything at all happens with insurance.

As for the pods, your doctor will determine whether you will change the pod every 2 or 3 days. If you change it every 2 days, obviously the cost goes up a bit because you would need 15 pods per month instead of 10.

Of course, you still have to buy insulin, test strips, etc. Oh, and the test strips are Freestyle which I've heard are more expensive on some insurance plans so be sure to check on that.

My insurance situation worked out quite well, but it also switched mid process. For once, something went from worse to better. I get the impression that some insurance companies are more readily accepting the Omnipod because the upfront costs are so much less ($800 vs. $6,000).

Hope this helps. And for what it's worth, I really like mine. :)

[pandeia]

thanks Nifr! :D

[SuzySushi]

We checked into the pods a couple of months ago. Our health plan (Kaiser) doesn't cover Omnipod at all yet, and as of when I spoke with them, Omnipod was just beginning to contact physicians in Hawaii (their "local" rep is in California!), so I figure it'll be at least a few more years before they get established here. :(