[Diabetes-talk] For those who have Liberty Medical to get these prodigy voice test strips

Mon Nov 22 18:41:20 UTC 2010

well Michael they don't get it right here either.  I belong to the NY State 
Affiliate I am the treasurer of the Greater Long Island Chapter. I did not 
attend this year's state convention, but I am the a board member officer of 
the NY State Diabetic Action Network and the Hotel that they had our state 
convention in, there idea of a diabetic lunch was to give us all Giant 
cookies for desert.  I don't' remember what else was served, but was told 
the lunch was not a diabetic one and we ordered one.

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Cheryl Echevarria
http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com

Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise and Travel Inc.

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Park" <pageforpage at gmail.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] For those who have Liberty Medical to get these 
prodigy voice test strips

> Hi Cheryl.
>
> You are not alone in this one. We have similar problems here in South
> Africa. On the government health care system, they require you to have
> an Accu-chek Active meter in order to get strips from the government.
> However, some little idiot in the burocracy is clamping down on people
> getting free testing strips here.
>
> I currently use a One Touch Profile, without a voice, of course, but my
> wife does the checking for me. I had considered changing over to the
> Accu-chek till my diabetologist advised me on the state of the nation as
> far as strips go. The strips for the One Touch Profile are hellishly
> expensive, but having done my sums, I have found that in the long term,
> staying with Johnson And Johnson is actually going to be cheaper for me
> than to switch over to the Roche product. For one, glucometers are
> expensive here and for another the Accu-chek Active strips cost ten
> percent more than the strips for the One Touch Profile.
>
> A significant part of the reason why diabetics in this part of the world
> do not test as regularly as they ought, is the cost of the strips.
> However, I operate as a diabetes counsellor both in our local church and
> under the umbrella of an organisation called Disability Connection,
> having fought a long, lonely  and bitter fight to get the organisation
> to recognise diabetes as a disability, and yet it still happens that
> diabetics are not always catered for at functions. I cannot be a
> diabetes counsellor with a less than exemplary lifestyle, and I am very
> conscious of my own situation.
>
> On a recent occasion at a DC meeting, for instance, due to rank bad and
> unprofessional organisation, lunch was served two whole hours late with
> the embarrassing result that I went hypo during a meeting. While hypos
> can always be fixed, I would surmise that it would actually be better to
> try and prevent them rather than fix them. It goes without saying that I
> had a word or two to say to the organisers, that does not bear repeating
> here.
>
> I don't know how you are intending to tackle the problem with congress,
> but I mention my argument here that diabetes is a disability, purely on
> the basis that I understand a disability to be a condition which has as
> its effect, the denial of a person to the normal amenities of life.
>
> Sure, diabetics are not necessarily crippled as a result of the
> condition, but if I take myself as an extreme example of a relatively
> healthy diabetic for instance, I cannot just eat and drink as I like. I
> have to be on a special diet which lays down requirements not only of
> what I may and may not have, but also the times when I have to have
> specific things and in my book, that effectively entails the denial of
> enjoyment of the amenities of life. If a diabetic goes hypo, for
> instance, that also involves a denial of the enjoyment of the amenities
> of life. When I do go hypo, I am unable to function for the rest of the 
> day.
>
> I mention this because in our bill of rights to the constitution, health
> care is supposed to be an entrenched right and so too, the right of
> disabled persons not to be discriminated against. The reason why I
> fought this campaign out here is quite simply, to get diabetics onto the
> same ticket as people with disabilities, thereby effectively
> strengthening the case of the diabetic community to bargain a better
> deal for itself.
>
> I speak under correction, but if my memory serves me right, one could
> interpret your bill of rights in a similar manner to ours, namely that
> the right to health care is entrenched, and that discrimination against
> disabled persons is unlawful. Furthermore, your Disabled Persons Act of
> 2000 also has a very net of provisions protecting disabled persons.
>
> In my experience, people generally don't consider diabetics either and
> so I reciprocate mutually. Come snack time during the day, I fish out my
> fruit without asking and explaining and if people don't like it, then as
> far as I am concerned, they can hop. As I said to one person rather
> bluntly recently, they are not going to take care of my health, and so I
> will do that on my terms. Even when I go to functions now, and my
> medication has been changed so that I don't have as many hypos anymore,
> I take my precautions for the meal being late and I take an extra fruit
> along with me just to help keep my sugar stable. My diabetes counsellor
> did caution that I must not take it for granted that I will never get a
> hypo, and remembering that it is not a pleasant experience when it
> happens to me, I just do my own thing anyway.
>
> I don't know what strategy you are going to adopt, but for my two cents'
> worth, I would suggest that in order to argue a stronger case for the
> rights of diabetics, diabetes should, in addition to being a health care
> concern, also be dealt with as a disability. Believe me, if my
> experience is anything to go by, even a liberal constitution, without
> the political will to enforce the rights of persons, has a value which
> does not exceed a piece of toilet paper. The only way in which you can
> stand a very good chance to win this one, is to try and fit as many
> strings to your bow as possible.
>
> I must conclude on a positive note by saying that due to its structure
> and mechanism, the NFB naturally lends itself to the kind of strategy I
> advocate. The fact that there is a diabetes list on the NFB site rather
> speaks for itself in this regard. What needs to happen is that this mode
> of thinking is something which you would have to communicate to your
> congressmen over there, as well.
>
> HTH.
>
> Michael Park
> "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the 
> tents of wickedness." (psalm 84:10 NKJV).
>
> We support NVDA, a free screenreading program for the blind, giving high 
> quality computer access to many commercial applications, as well as 
> portability.
>
>   NVDA 2010.2 has been released.
>
>
> On 2010/11/22 18:08, cheryl echevarria wrote:
> > Here in NY I have had 5 people call me one after the other, who have
> > insurance companies that get the prodigy test strips from Liberty 
> > Medical.
> >
> > Liberty Medical is telling people and sending out letters that Prodigy 
> > is
> > not making the meters and strips any longer.
> >
> > I just got off the Prodigy.com they said no such a thing is going on.
> >
> > For some reason Liberty Medical is no longer carrying the prodigy 
> > products.
> >
> > My question is for Kelly and others on the list.
> >
> > Um, what do people do who have no other choice with there insurance on 
> > who
> > to use for the durable medical supplies for the prodigy strips.  First 
> > ADS
> > and now Liberty Medical, they are also a company that handles a lot of
> > Medicare clients, since they are a durable medical supplier for 
> > Medicare.
> >
> > Should we be aware of other companies that are not carrying the product
> > anymore?
> >
> > This is a legit question, I am not trying to be rude and nasty, since I 
> > was
> > just elected as board member of the Newly created DAN Division here in 
> > NY.
> > I will be doing a lot of fact finding not only for NY but for this 
> > division
> > as well, since I am a medical insurance specialist as well, that people 
> > need
> > alternatives to getting there supplies.
> >
> > Like myself I am still having issues in the future of getting my lantus, 
> > my
> > doctor had to call in an override to the insurance company and into 
> > Medco
> > where I get my meds.
> >
> > I have spoken to my congressman's office and they are helping me with 
> > this
> > issue.  Hopefully but the end of the month I will not have to worry 
> > about
> > Lantus, we are trying to get me on the insulin pump, but at the same 
> > time if
> > I cannot get on it, and I can't use another insulin for my diabetes, we 
> > need
> > to talk to congress when we are in Washington this year about this, and 
> > let
> > them know the problems with our insurance companies and suppliers as 
> > well.
> >
> > The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!
> >
> > Cheryl Echevarria
> > http://Echevarriatravel.com
> > 1-866-580-5574
> > Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
> >
> > Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel 
> > CST-1018299-10
> > Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise and Travel 
> > Inc.
> >
> > join my yahoogroup
> > echevarriatravel-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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