Annoyed with Insurance Company/ Meter Suggestions

[KatGirl]

So today I went to pick up my refill for test stripes for my One Touch Ultra meter.

Every month I have paid $10 for 100 stripes. I was shocked when the guy checking me out told me the cost changed to $60.

I told him I didn't understand why the cost went up and he mentioned something about Blue Cross/Blue Shield having a formulary sheet and apparently One Touch supplies are no longer eligible. He told be this took effect on 10/1/09 (at this point I was cursing BC/BS). Since I see my dr on Tuesday, I bought a box of 25 and figured I would talk to him about my options then.

I came home and started looking up what my insurance covers. Basically Blue Cross covers Accu-Check, Freestyle, and Precision.

The one meter that caught my eye was the Accu-Check Compact. I like the fact that it hold 17 test stripes. Does anyone have any likes/dislikes or comments with this meter (or any of the other above meters)?

When I see my dr on Tuesday, I want to have an idea of a meter so he can write me a new RX.

Fortunately the metformin/glipizide I am on is still on the list and will continue to only cost $20 of 90 days.

I love insurance companies!!

[Funnygrl]

Get a Freestyle Lite. My insurance won't cover Freestyle anymore, and I soooo miss my Lite, so let me live vicariously through you.

[RandallFlagg]

I wish I still had insurance to be annoyed with! :T

[Funnygrl]

I wish I still had insurance to be annoyed with! :T
Why you'll never hear me saying "I hate insurance companies" or "I hate my insurance." Beats the heck out of paying out of pocket.

[cyberus]

So today I went to pick up my refill for test stripes for my One Touch Ultra meter.

Every month I have paid $10 for 100 stripes. I was shocked when the guy checking me out told me the cost changed to $60.

I told him I didn't understand why the cost went up and he mentioned something about Blue Cross/Blue Shield having a formulary sheet and apparently One Touch supplies are no longer eligible. He told be this took effect on 10/1/09 (at this point I was cursing BC/BS). Since I see my dr on Tuesday, I bought a box of 25 and figured I would talk to him about my options then.

I came home and started looking up what my insurance covers. Basically Blue Cross covers Accu-Check, Freestyle, and Precision.

The one meter that caught my eye was the Accu-Check Compact. I like the fact that it hold 17 test stripes. Does anyone have any likes/dislikes or comments with this meter (or any of the other above meters)?

When I see my dr on Tuesday, I want to have an idea of a meter so he can write me a new RX.

Fortunately the metformin/glipizide I am on is still on the list and will continue to only cost $20 of 90 days.

I love insurance companies!!

I have it, use it.

The drum is nice, I dislike the soft clix lancet but I think that it because I love multiclix ;) so I farmboy'd my old breezeII case to hold the compact and multiclix.

The strips don't draw very well but you have lots of time, and it takes a bigger drop of blood than a one touch but IMHO the microscopic diff between .5 and 1.5 ul isn't worth noticing.

Its easy to read, uses standard AA batteries, is a bit noisy.

There is no way to do anything to a reading except flag it, so if you are prone to bad readings cuz you have OJ on your fingers you won't be able to delete a reading from your averages.
If you are geeky and want to download your info to your comp its a $44 deal to get the software and IR reader, price sux given most meters you can get a free software download and a cable for $10-15 (or free) but on the flip side the reader and software are good for the entire accuchek meter lineup. I haven't had the $44 to spare so I don't have the setup yet so I can't say how well it works.

[poodlebone]

I had gotten a freebie Breeze2 awhile back and only used it until the free test disc was empty. It worked well, readings seemed close enough to my One Touch meters. I did not like the size of the meter and the fact that you have to remove it from the case in order to use it. I was also worried about the discs getting jammed/stuck although I haven't really read many complaints about that. I know older meters that used those discs often had problems. Still, I'd rather not have a meter with moving parts as it is one more thing that could go wrong with it.

I have BCBS but I'm in NY, and One Touch are on the formulary. My co-pay increased from $10 to $35 at the beginning of this year but that was for all brands of strips they cover, not just One Touch.

[Tribbles]

My employer has just switched from Aetna to CVS for pharmacy benefits so I lose my Freestyle Lite and have to go back to One Touch which I hate because of the number of strips I waste. I am looking at the Freestyle Promise program to see if it will cover the gap between the new cost of the strips and the cost of the One Touch strips.

I wonder if insurance companies realise it upsets people to change meters?

[Granny Shanny]

I wonder if insurance companies realise it upsets people to change meters?

(excuse me while I laugh! :D :D :D) No, it never enters their collective heads. These yahoos deny life-saving coverage to patients who've dutifully paid their premiums for years. They don't have a clue.

[Scratch]

My insurance stopped covering the strips for One Touch and what frustrated me about that was that I won't be using the UltraSmart meter which was very useful for me on MDI because it's what I use to keep track of my injection times.

What I ended up doing is getting a new meter and strips, then I upgraded my cellphone to a blackberry and downloaded a logbook app. If I hadn't done that, I would have had a wallet, 2 meters, and a cellphone in my pockets. Now I'm back to having a wallet, a meter and a cellphone.

[PrettynPurple]

I use teh freestyle lite and I like it. the freestyle program gives ya up to $50 off per month for strips. on my current insurance plan, and thre freestyle program i pay $15 a month for 150 strips.

[foxl]

I do not think it would take THAT much for them to notify current users -- after all, we must go TESTLESS, while arranging for another prescription ... I think that is outright shabby, frankly. I would call them and complain and ask what is cheapest under your coverage, ASAP!

[sarahspins]

I do not think it would take THAT much for them to notify current users -- after all, we must go TESTLESS, while arranging for another prescription ... I think that is outright shabby, frankly. I would call them and complain and ask what is cheapest under your coverage, ASAP!

But they're not denying coverage completely, it simply has a different co-pay. Honestly, my experience is that this likely has little to do with the insurance plan, and everything to do with the company paying for it... they can and will change things to protect their bottom line, even (especially?) if it's not in the best interests of their customers.

All of my co-pays (including RX) changed recently (on 10/1 - very random time IMO for a change). We weren't given any notification before new cards arrived in the mail at the end of September, with different (higher) #'s on them :eek:

Obviously I wasn't happy as it increases my costs across the board, but there's not much I can do about it either.. other than complain to DH's employer about it, but I'm not likely to get very far though, because they pay our insurance premiums 100% - so anything that saves them money is what matters to them, not what I have to deal with after (or how much more it costs me out of pocket).