[Diabetes-talk] FW: Don't play God

Wed Sep 5 14:13:51 UTC 2012

Hi Mike and '''''''''''all,

First, insurance companies are in a pinch, too, because recent years have 
seen millions of folks increasing their use of meds, even diabetic glucose 
strips.  So they begin restricting useage.  Scams abound.  Some people 
demand the maximum number of prescription items allowed, then sell the 
surplus to others on a black market.

However, if the insurance company restricts you more than medically 
required, ask the insurance company to put you in contact with their 
Complaints Officer and ask for an exception.  If that leads nowhere, look 
for another insurance plan.  Under Obama Care, millions of people now are 
eligible people have been added to insurance roles without corresponding 
monies to pay for them, therefore, restricted coverage within insurance 
plans.  I'm sorry it has been happening, but things will get worse before 
Congress can do anything to improve the situation.  Remember, there ain't no 
free lunchh.  The climate for health coverage is now far in debt and getting 
worse, because there are more people requiring health services than there 
are tax dollars to pay for it.  That's why the nation's debt is trillion of 
dollars per year more than tax income.  To survive in this increasing 
reduction of medical services and fast increases in ddemand, we can only 
complain legally and keep searching for plan B and plan C, etc.  I've been 
retired for years and I'm already noticing the pinch.  We are asked to 
switch our expensive meds to generics and use fewer prescription meds and 
doctor visits and hospital days allowed when needed

One more thought: check your list of pharmacies around town and looks for 
the available low-cost med plans, anywhere from free to four dollars per 
subscription and discount charges from drug companies themselves.  I'll list 
some sources later.

Bill Lewis <wlewis19 at cox.net>

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 9:19 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] FW: Don't play God

Ahem ... NFB is a nonpartisan organization and obviously that goes for its
divisions.

In fact, the post below was a diatribe against *private* insurers for the
cavalier, high-handed way they dictate the number of strips they'll pay for
on the basis of fear of being cheated rather than on the basis of improving
patient care.

Mike Freeman

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bernadette Jacobs
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 1:46 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] FW: Don't play God

Thank you Mr. OBama!!!

On 9/1/12, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
> From: acb-diabetics-bounces at acb.org
> [mailto:acb-diabetics-bounces at acb.org]
> On Behalf Of Patricia LaFrance-Wolf
> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 8:39 PM
> To: 'Discussion list for diabetics and/or ACB issues'
> Subject: [acb-diabetics] Don't play God
>
>
>
>
> Playing God
>
>
> Katherine Marple
>
> Aug 25, 2012
>
> Description: cid:image001.jpg at 01CD855D.27EE6500
>
> Katherine Marple
>
> Recently, while scrolling through discussions posted on an online
> diabetes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/>  forum, I came across one
> from a man in his thirties who wrote about how paramedics had found
> his twin brother face down in a sauna, in an insulin
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/medications/insulin/>  shock coma.
> How
> did he end up in such a state? The appalling answer is, he didn't have
> enough glucose strips to test before he got into the hot tub. A few
> weeks before the sauna incident, his insurance company had limited his
> glucose strips to just four per day.
>
> For anyone with insulin-dependent diabetes, that is just asking for
> trouble.
> Testing at meals alone (breakfast, lunch
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/food/lunch/> , dinner
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/food/dinner/> , and the
> recommended bedtime snack) would eat up his entire allotment. What
> about the days when, no matter what you do, your glucose levels just
> aren't cooperating? You're also supposed to test before you drive,
> before you exercise
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/fitness/exercise/> , after you
> exercise, and even more often when you're sick. I personally test
> about ten times per day, even at 3 a.m. These tests are necessary in
> order to achieve the beautiful A1C
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/a1c-test/>  results that
doctors and insurance companies are always touting.
>
> So why do insurance companies play God by limiting our supplies? If
> we're not testing, our odds of going into shock or ketoacidosis are
> much higher, and the cost of keeping us in an intensive care unit to
> recover is more expensive than a few more strips per day.
>
> A few years ago, my former insurance company put a limit on my
> diabetes supplies. There is nothing quite like the terror that you
> feel as you watch your medication supply dwindling down to nothing,
> and you know that you've got a full week to go before your insurance
> will authorize a refill. We need these things to survive, so it's more
> than horror-movie scary: It's a real life fear of imminent death. You
> stand paralyzed, watching the Grim Reaper slowly drag his scythe up
> the road toward you. Every month you watch him coming, and it's on
> your last breath, when he's staring you right in the face, that you
> dodge him and buy yourself one more month--just to do it again the
> next month.
>
> I'm in a better place with a larger insurance company these days, but
> I will never forget that fear. Insurance companies should not have
> that power. No one should have the authority to put our lives on the
> line. That control belongs to each one of us, and us alone. So, I have
> a message for the insurance companies. Please take a moment to chew on
> this: You can't make money off of a dead person.
>
>   _____
>
> Categories: A1C
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/a1c/> ,
> Diabetes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/diabetes/> ,
> Diabetes Health
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/diabetes-health/> ,
> Diabetes Health Magazine
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/diabetes-health-magazi
> ne/>
> ,
> Diabetic <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/health-care/diabetic/>
> , Insulin <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/medications/insulin/>
> ,
>
>
>
>

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