[Diabetes-talk] (no subject)

Tue Sep 1 15:08:54 UTC 2015

Anita:

Free-style meters do *not* speak. As others have told you, there are only
*two* meters that are fully-accessible to a totally-blind person and even
this statement needs an asterisk. One of the meters is the Prodigy Voice; it
can be ordered from NFB's Independence Market. I believe it costs $50. Some
pharmacies may be able to order it also although they will undoubtedly get
it mixed up with the Prodigy Autocode meter which also is billed as having
speech. The difference is that the Autocode needs sighted assistance to set
up, speaks the reading only once and requires sight to review past readings
from memory. You want the Prodigy Voice which you can set up yourself and
you can review its readings from memory. However, if your pharmacy can get
Prodigy Autocode test strips, they will work perfectly well in the Prodigy
Voice and, in fact, I use Prodigy Autocode strips in my Prodigy Voice
because CVS Caremark mail-order carries them.

The other fully accessible meter is known as the Solus V2. It can be ordered
from Advanced Diabetic Solutions (the website is
http://advanceddiabeticsolutions.com <http://advanceddiabeticsolutions.com/>
and it, too, can be set up by a blind person. It can be ordered from Amazon
also butone never knows whether one is getting a Solus V2 with the latest
firmware (necessary for the blind for a reason I'll get to shortly). And
here's that asterisk: since the Solus V2 speaks both English and Spanish,
although it can be set up independently by a blind person, there's only
enough speech memory to speak the last ten readings from memory; the rest of
the readings are there but one needs sight or needs to hook the meter to a
computer and use special software and an accessible website to view all the
rest of the readings  if one is blind. The Solus V2 tends to tell you if
there isn't enough blood on the strips slightly more reliably than does the
Prodigy which tends just to give you a reading that doesn't make sense. In
either event, though, you do the same thing: test again.

Most meters that claim to talk (including the Solus V2) are made to market
to the Medicare market where it is presumed that a reading for an elderly
person needs speech reinforcement; all these meters need sighted setup and
say the reading once. This is the way the companion and Embrace work.

You'll probably have to get your physician to write and jawbone your
insurance company to cover the Prodigy Voice or Solus V2 since these meters
are undoubtedly not in their formularies.

To dispel an erroneous notion many blind diabetics have, there is *no* civil
rights or accessibility statute (including the ADA) that covers blood
glucose meters.

Were I you, I'd just buy the Prodigy Voice myself and try to get your
insurance to cover Prodigy Autocode test strips.

Despite the "doom and gloom" flavor of this post, welcome to the list
(You've been on for some time, I believe). We all are ready to help you. One
booklet we of NFB published some time back is called "Bridging the Gap".
It's on the NFB website so just search for it. Plenty of good advice there.
We can also recommend many BARD books you might find helpful, depending upon
how much you want to know. (smile)

Take care.

Mike Freeman, President

Diabetes Action Network

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Anita Ogletree via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 1:13 PM
To: Diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Anita Ogletree
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] (no subject)

Hello. I, too, have been diagnosed as a pre-diabetic. My doctor has me
attending a class for diabetes. My insurance did cover the strips for
testing but I had to pay $19 for a Free-Style meter.

I told my doctor I needed one with speech so a prescription was called into
my Pharmacy at Walgreens. Does anyone know if the Free-Style meter has
speech and if so, are there online instructions to get it set up?

I may need to contact the Pharmacy if I cannot set it up.

Anita

_______________________________________________

Diabetes-talk mailing list

 <mailto:Diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org> Diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org

 <http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org

To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Diabetes-talk:

<http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.co
m>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.com