[Diabetes-Talk] Dexcom and Medicare.

[Veronica Elsea]

Hi everyone.
Well, Dexcom is slowly beginning the roll-out of Medicare coverage for the
G6. I managed to get myself on the VIP list and just received my first
Medicare kit. 
When you place your order, they ask you 8 questions. Most of them are kind
of stupid, but that's Medicare. But question 8 is whether or not you'd be
willing to use the receiver in conjunction with your phone. I said no, and
the Dexcom guy said I'd need to say yes here. I then asked if this was being
enforced. He said it wasn't. So I lied. I sent a note to Dexcom's Medicare
representative about this because I was concerned that other blind people
may not know this. 
I did receive my first shipment. Boy is the packaging cheaper. The print
manual is a bunch of pages in a bag rather than a nicely bound manual. The
transmitter box fell apart when I was trying to figure out where the serial
number was and how to read it. And everything says all over it, Medicare
Medicare Medicare. For use only by Medicare recipients. Boy that's saving
money all right. Why do they have to have their name all over everything and
make companies package things in separate boxes just because it's Medicare?
Dumb!
And on Friday night, my first two sensors failed. After I called, Dexcom
said, we'll send out Medicare sensors. I couldn't help myself. I want Dexcom
sensors. I asked if the sensors were different. The guy kind of tripped all
over his words and said they weren't. I'm beginning to wonder. I hope they
are. In the meantime, good thing this last sensor managed to work. Sheesh! I
can't believe I paid cash for 5 months while they negotiated this for a
contract. Our government could have saved a ton of money if they'd just let
the coverage of the G6 begin when it was approved by Medicare last July. My
previous sensors didn't say Anthem all over them so why does Medicare have
to do this? 
Anyway, please help spread the word about question 8. I'm trying to get
people to work on fixing this but in the meantime, I don't want any blind
person to be discouraged from, or denied using the Dexcom for this stupid
reason. Thanks.
Veronica


"Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now available on
iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club. 
To learn more, visit:
http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
                Veronica Elsea, Owner
Laurel Creek Music Designs
Santa Cruz, California
Phone: 831-429-6407