[Diabetes-talk] Prodigy Voice not being paid by the HMOs

Thu Jan 28 06:41:40 UTC 2010

Mike, the DAN Board and All Members,

I, as the President of the NFBNJ Diabetes Division was directly involved in 
addressing this issue at our state convention. I wrote the following 
resolution with input from Jordan Benis of Advanced Diabetic Solutions. I
thought to address this insurance non acceptance of talking blood glucose
meters initially at the state level.
The resolution is available in the NFBNJ Sounding Board Fall 2009 from the
web http://www.nfbnj.org/docs/SB_Fall_2009.doc
Jordan Benis agreed with me and we both thought to then bring this to the 
2010 NFB National Convention in Dallas, Tx. Jordan shared his company has to
reject many people per day due to the HMO formulary list not including any 
talking meters.
I would be glad to take the lead on presenting this to the NFB Resolution 
Committee to be reviewed in Dallas this year on behalf of the DAN Board and 
all our members.
Joseph Ruffalo, NFBNJ President has said a resolution from the NFBNJ 
Sounding Board Fall 2009 Fall issue is available to be shared as long as no 
wording is changed without the approval of the NFBNJ Board. I will forward a 
copy of the MS Word document to the DAN Board as the following copy/paste 
may appear slightly choppy coming through Outlook Express.

Resolution 2009-03

Regarding Access to Talking Glucometers

WHEREAS, in today's market, certain health insurance plans dictate what
brand of diabetic equipment a member must use to stay compliant with their
treatment regimen, claiming that this strategy is utilized to control costs
to the plan and prevent healthcare premiums from rising; and

WHEREAS, today, most insurance companies contract strictly with one
manufacturer who provides only inaccessible, non-talking glucometers,
thereby presenting a serious obstacle to complying with their testing
regimen for the five million people with diabetes who are blind or visually
impaired; and

WHEREAS, the most effective way to stabilize diabetes is for a patient to
test his or her blood sugar frequently and take action on any blood sugar
that falls outside of medical guidelines; and

WHEREAS, because no accessible blood glucose monitors appear on current
medical insurance formulary lists, the visually impaired and blind are
forced to use blood glucose monitors designed for sighted patients; and

WHEREAS, when blind or visually impaired patients are forced to use
non-talking meters, they often do not test at all, thereby drastically
increasing their risk of complications, morbidity and mortality; and

WHEREAS, the only way a blind or visually impaired diabetic can acquire an
accessible blood glucose monitor is through a long and complicated process
of submitting extensive medical documentation, and approval is not
guaranteed; and

WHEREAS, the inaccessibility of blood glucose monitors on the formulary
lists creates a barrier to independence for the blind in choice, management
of health, and control of their diabetes, and hinders their quality of life:
Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the NFB of NJ, in Convention assembled this 8th day of
Nov. 2009, in the township of Clark, NJ, that this organization call upon
our state legislators to speedily pass legislation that accomplishes the
following purposes: to make it a civil offense to sell inaccessible blood
glucose monitors to blind clients; to mandate all insurance companies to
have at least one fully accessible glucometer on their formulary list; and
to put into place fines or other penalties to ensure compliance with the
law.

Vinny
Vincent Chaney Jr
NFB Diabetes Action Network (DAN) Board
NFBNJ Diabetes Division President
NJAGDU Division President
NFBNJ Technology Division Vice President
NFBNJ.ORG Webmaster
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Prodigy Voice not being paid by the HMOs

Actually, we need specifics: who was denied coverage for the Prodigy Voice
by which HMO on what date(s)? With whom did the individual(s) speak? Did
he/she/they have a prescription from his/her/their doctor(s) specifying that
the Prodigy Voice be used? In what state(s) did these problems occur (laws
in the several states may be different).

Mike Freeman, President
Diabetes Action Network

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 11:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Prodigy Voice not being paid by the HMOs

> well, I am also a Medical Insurance Specialist and anything is possible.
>
> Medicare will not deny it,  but that is why I posted it out there, I mean
> we have a few people who work for these companies on this list, let them
> answer us on this issue.
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> Independent Contractor
> www.Echevarriatravel.com
> 1-866-580-5574
> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel
> CST-1018299-10
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Meyer" <datemeyer at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 2:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Prodigy Voice not being paid by the HMOs
>
>
>> Cheryl,
>>
>> I don't know if this would make any difference or not.  As I'm sure you
>> know, all HMOs are not created equal and that some of them in fact try to
>> get out of paying for whatever they can get out of.
>>
>> That said, when I had to replace my glucose meter almost two years ago, I
>> told my doctor to write on the referral that the Prodigy Voice was the
>> only
>> completely accessible glucose meter presently out there and that without
>> it,
>> I could not test independently, nor could I monitor test results.  Taking
>> that approach worked for me.
>>
>> The unfortunate reality in my opinion is that so long as insurance
>> companies
>> continue to play games with our lives, we must sometimes stretch the
>> truth a
>> little to get what we want or need.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of cheryl echevarria
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:19 AM
>> To: diabetes-talk
>> Subject: [Diabetes-talk] Prodigy Voice not being paid by the HMOs
>>
>> I had brought this up in October when I returned from the State
>> Convention
>> of NY.
>>
>> I was told by a Vendor of the Prodigy Voice who is affiliated with
>> Advanced
>> Diabetic Solutions, by the way I was told that they are going to be a
>> vendor
>> at both this year's convention and next year's as well.
>>
>> The Vendors had mentioned that the HMOs such as HIP, Aetna, United
>> Healthcare, were not paying for the prodigy voice and others because
>> these
>> companies feel that these are a fad and that they shouldn't have to pay
>> for
>> them.
>>
>> I again ask if Tina Rockwell is on the talk list yet, to let us know this
>> so
>> that we can possibly put action in motion.  Sue and Cy Fetzner who are
>> the
>> ones who Represented Advanced Diabetic Solutions as the Convention they
>> also
>> do great diabetic shoes, I just got my pair, better then the other vendor
>> we
>> had in Dallas in 2008.
>>
>> This is a very serious issue and should be worked on as a whole, once we
>> find out exactly what is going on.
>>
>> Cheryl Echevarria
>> Independent Contractor
>> www.Echevarriatravel.com
>> 1-866-580-5574
>> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel
>> CST-1018299-10
>>
>>
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>
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