Diabetic Recipes
It sounded like the ideal situation. One phone call and all my diabeetus testing supplies and medicine would be delivered straight to my door. No last minute trips the the pharmacy. No paying out of pocket to be reimbursed later. Everything would be taken care of with one quick phone call.
I fell for it in September. Like most relationships, it started out nicely. Three or four "quick" phone calls and they promptly delivered a three month supply of test strips and an equal number of lancets. And for a girl who only changes her lancets when we change the clocks (and only if I remember to that week), I now have a 600 year supply of lancets in my closet.
At the time, they were also supposed to send a three month supply of insulin. It still has not arrived. Five or six phone calls later, they tell me they are still waiting on my doctor to return their call.
I don't really believe that. My doctor returns my call promptly. When I went on the pump, I wasn't even home from the office before a pump rep called me. I know my doctor makes phone calls in a timely manner.
Last week, they told me it would be no problem and I should have a three-month supply of insulin on my doorstep by Monday. It's now Wednesday morning and I have 3.4 units of insulin left in my pump. If I don't eat anything, it should last me through noon.
So I called the diabeetus supply company again this morning and they tell me they still don't have a script. I cancelled the order. I'm going to the pharmacy, I will pay out of pocket and get reimbursed later. And I will not deal with this company anymore.
That's just awful! You'd think if they specialize in "diabeetus" (LOL at that one), they would understand the importance of insulin! And I'm like you on the lancets, I think I still have some from '03!
Mail order pharmacies can be so annoying. I once had 8 vials of insulin left out to cook on my front porch one hot August afternoon.
(And I have a stash of lancets, too! Do all diabetics have boxes and boxes of them from the 90's?!)
Well another mail order diaster. Here is my remidy any time they tell me these lies about calling and waiting for my doctor to return calls. I not only call the doctor myself and ask him/her to call I also call the medical coverege representative and put in another complaint about them. They are supposed to follow up on these types of complaints.
Ok so we can all do arts and crafts with our lancet supply. But, seriously not all companies are bad. I use Better living now, I don't even have to think about supplies they just appear. I'm on the pump too and now that I'm testing 10 times a day (I was having lots of DKS) I need test strips. They even send my supplies through the US mail instead of UPS since I'm never home.
Ok so we can all do arts and crafts with our lancet supply. But, seriously not all companies are bad. I use Better living now, I don't even have to think about supplies they just appear. I'm on the pump too and now that I'm testing 10 times a day (I was having lots of DKS) I need test strips. They even send my supplies through the US mail instead of UPS since I'm never home.
Hi everyone I have been a diabetic for a little over a year now and I joined a mail order company right after. I haven't had any problems. They even call me if I forget to send in my card and my supplies are at my door in about 2 or 3 days. Even if I haven't paid the bill. My meds are cheeper elsewhere. email me and I will tell ya who I'm with. Janet
I've had my supplies shipped to me by two companies. The first company stopped delivering because the insurance company was not paying them on time. So, the checks from the insurance company came to me and I had to sign it and send it to the medical supply company. Finally, the insurance company stopped paying for the supplies and I had to go back to the pharmacy, until my neighbor became a representative for another company that mails diabetes supplies. I was afraid to get involved again, but I did, even after explaining to my neighbor what happened to me the last time when I dealt with a medical supply company. I was assured that the same thing would not happen. I signed up and the amount of supplies that I got was overwhelming. I had months of supplies. I couldn't believe it. Then, the amount of supplies being sent to me started to dwindle. In the beginning, I was getting lancets up to my neck, 12-50 strip vials, alcohol swabs, and a couple of free sweetners and refrigerator magnets with the companies information. This was great. The supplies were also being shipped late. Sometimes, I would have to call more than twice for my supplies. At the end, I was reduced to more lancets than blood glucose monitor strips. There were no more alcohol swabs. I had to borrow strips from my grandmother or aunt while I waited for my supplies to be shipped to me. Also, I had no idea that the supplies that were being sent to me, were subpar. I found this out when I finally remembered to bring my testing supplies to the doctor's office so that she could read my numbers. She was not impressed with the machine or the brand. I told her that economically, the brand was better to use because I got 25 more strips in one vial than the other leading brand of strips. She bluntly said that that's why you pay your insurance premium; get the most out of your money. At one point, I noticed that the machine from the medical supply company gave me a reading that was a few numbers higher than the leading brand's machine. I didn't know if I could any longer trust the reading. After months and months of not receiving any supplies, the company mailed me a letter saying that they have sent letters to the doctor asking her to update my information and that I would need to go to the doctor's office myself to get signed off. Knowing the way my doctor thinks, she probably is refusing to sign off on the letter simply because she does not like the testing strips that this company mails out. So, it maybe your doctor and how well he or she likes the testing products that determines how long you get your supplies, also. I now go to the pharmacy and pick up my materials. It's more expensive, but if the strips that I buy from the pharmacy is going to give me better readings, then, I'll survive.
I have been with the same mail order company since 2001. They were just great till their service went to another supplier. They use to call me all the time now they don't. Ever since they changed suppliers I have had to beg them for my supplies. They have used every excuse in the world for being late. Either I send my card in too late, my card was too early, the doctor hasn't ordered my prescription, the fax didn't come and the person who filled out the prescription did it wrong.. I have called my doctor and found out my supplier has lied numerous times. Now for some reason my supplies has come on time for the first time in over a year. I do not owe them as my insurance pays for everything.
As far as the over supply of lancets goes I have asked them to skip once in a while and that seems to work. I am now down to one box. I hope when I need them they will send them.
I did try to order from a different company and they told me they didn't carry the strip that I need for my Blood Glucose Meter. They said my insurance wouldn't pay for those strips anyway, which it does. They wanted to send me one of their meters which I don't want. I like my meter and do not what to change. Why would they say that or want to send me a different type of meter? Another unreliable supplier it seems.
It sounds to me like there is other suppliers out there that are just as unreliable...
I wish I knew who to contact to complain to about them.
At one time, our group insurance required that we receive prescriptions through mail order. Both of our sons are Type 1 - it was far and away THE WORST three years we have ever experienced.....had to have an Eli Lily rep repeatedly educate them on safe methods to ship insulin; fought with them for hours and hours after they then shipped insulin in 100 degree weather and left it on the step without requiring a signature while we were out of town (told us it was fine to use and would not replace it); etc., etc., etc. I will never again accept mail order prescriptions as the only alternative, and would pay increased insurance costs to work with a company who doesn't require it.
Wow, this is all good to know since I have been researching a mail-order company. My husband thinks it will be cheeper, but are the few dollars savings worth it? NO
I am surprised to hear all of the problems with mail-order supplies. My insurance co. has a co. that they work with. They are very good. Supplies come when they say - they e-mail you with updates as the prescriptions are processed and sent. They even let you know who the carrier is. Insulin is sent in packages with temperature control packets in them. The only problem I had was when I decided to get my test strips from them because they are cheaper. I received 4 containers - 2 had expiration dates over a year away - 1 was expiring in 3 months and 1 was expiring in a few days. Also the flap was taped on. I called the company and said that I could not use the ones that were going to expire in a few days within that time and that the flap was taped on and I wanted a replacement. She acted as if I had bought them elsewhere, allowed them to get near the expiration date and ordered ones from them, so I could get rid of the ones I had. She said they just don't send them when they're expiring. I told her that that was what I received. She did reluctantly take them back. I have not ordered test strips from then since. However, my doctor just gave me a script for them, saying that many insurance companies cover them and I should try it, so I will.