Please email me about CGMS denials

[Christie Jensen]

Hello to all--

I am currently thinking seriously about a lawsuit (class action) on behalf of all persons with diabetes who need a CGMS and are being denied by their insurance company. However, I need your name and dates and insurance company names. If you have been denied, please email me at [e-mail] and tell me your story. I want to know what other insurance companies (besides mine) are denying this. We need to all band together and make them take us seriously!!

Christie

[Christie Jensen]

I am so sorry to hear about these awful things each of you has told me about. Deborah, I have had many of the same kinds of incidents as you. Even since I got the CGM, I have had some nasty lows, although not nearly as bad as I used to have before getting a CGM. Why do these idiotic insurance companies keep denying them to their members? I have to get doctors' letters from my endocrinologist and opththalmologist for my insurance company to decide to keep covering the CGM. Never mind that my HbA1c dropped to the mid 6's from the low 8's. That wasn't good enough. Deborah, have you tried the Extend bars? They are supposed to help have a more even blood sugar, especially overnight. Like you, I have hypoglycemia unawareness. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help any of you.

[Deborah Myers]

I have come to accept that my hypo seizures are going to kill me. I have hypo unawareness and I am afraid to sleep. I purposely eat more carbs prior to going to bed because I am afraid that I will not wake up. Last week I woke up at 5am with a 30BG and I was starting the hand flaps, body twitches so I ran to get OJ and just poured the container over my face. My head was twitching so I could not get it to my mouth. My husband heard me out in the kitchen and by time he got to me I was on the floor. He gave me a shot of glucagon which took about 5 mins to stop the seizures. This time I woke up but, what if I don't ???? I called Abbott Co. about a CGM and was told that I must pay cash for Freestyle Navigator b/c medicare will not cover it. Sensors are $350/mo...right!!! Who can afford that ??? I have a funny feeling that I am going to die from one of these hypo seizures.

[Jim Devlin]

Freestyle Navigator is the model I was going for simply due to the fact that it is the newist. No guarantees here, I know, but for no other reason did I shoot for Navigator. Going for a reimburement promise from the government isn't an option I'd ever get into.
Thanks again,
Jim

[Jim Devlin]

After getting my doc. to accurately fill out forms for him, like squezzing blood from a rock, multible faxes, mistakes, and phone calls, and 5 weeks from start, I get the phone call from Abbott's ins. approval arm, Byram, where a childish and bored sounding person parrotting one phrase ONLY, "Your insurance company will not approve the CGM." I knew this before I contacted Abbott, this is the reason I contacted them.
Diabetic 56 yrs. Plenty of stories.
Medicare Plus Blue will approve the pump, which I don't have, nor want, but won't approve the CGM which I need to save my life. TRUST ME!!
Paramedics again out to my house this very afternoon.
I loathe whinning, but I desperately need a CGM.
I really hope someone out there gives a shit. Sorry, but I am desperate.
Jim

[Denise Force]

Hi Christie,
I just saw your post and was wondering how it was going with this. I currently have a CGM, which is covered by my insurance company Horizon BC/BS of NJ, but it was quite a battle to get it. I am afraid that many people don't have the time or energy to fight it and just give up. I am an RN/CDE and trainer for Medtronic, so if there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know!

Take Care!
Denise