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I usually listen when The Universe talks and lately I've been feeling that The Universe has been whispering in my ear.

At least once a month I get a call from the medical supply company where I used to get my Dexcom sensors. Usually it's about "an order you recently made." Which I didn't because I haven't used Dex in a very long time. In fact, I can't remember the last time I used it. Pretty sure I haven't used it at all this year.

I always ignore the phone message since I didn't place an order. 

Yesterday I got an email from Dexcom about tips for caring for Dexcom during the summer. I figured The Universe was speaking to me again, but now in a louder voice.

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I'm an advocate for healthcare reform. I think our country desperately needs a change in how we manage both preventive and continued care. Insurance companies can often make illness much more stressful than necessary with their copays, denied coverage, and stringent rules.

I've been blessed with pretty decent insurance thanks to my father's previous job. I've almost always been able to see the doctors that I want to. I lucked into a no referral clinic that allows me to see any type of doctor at my own discretion. No pink referral slips to get me into the OBGYNs' or cardiologists' doors.

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With a new job comes a lot of new policies, procedures, and information. Benefits not withstanding. For instance, I get quite a few vacation, sick, and personal days with my job. I also get compensation time and some other odds and ends. But the big one for me is health insurance.

Right now, I'm covered on my parent's plan through Cigna. I previously had Blue Cross Blue Shield and absolutely loved it. They were great about paying for things (except for that one tricky situation back in 2007) and the copays were reasonable. Earlier this year, we changed to Cigna though. And everything went through the roof. My recent prescriptions cost me $364 for a 3 month supply of glucagon, Humalog, Lantus, and Metformin. It's outrageous to me that my prescription costs went up by roughly $150. Not to mention how much my doctor's visits copays have increased.

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The day after my last post, I received a bill from the hospital for my visit at the end of July. The total cost of three days in the hospital, a heart catheterization, and several other tests came to a whopping $16,141.90.

My jaw nearly hit the floor when read the line stating the amount that my insurance had covered. $16,041.37

My eyes quickly shifted to the bottom of the page where the box stating the total amount that I owed was located. It read $100.53.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Had the insurance company really paid all but $100.53 of my $16,000 bill? They sure didn’t pay that much of the bill when I was in the hospital in April 2009. What could possibly be different this time around?

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Assortment of Random Open Notes...

Dear Man at the Bus Station,

I know you probably found yourself amusing when you said to the overweight woman who was struggling to get up this morning "that's what cupcakes will get you, diabetes and a fat a**."  And I get that you probably think you're above reproach because you maintain a healthy BMI.  News flash: not all diabetics are fat and it's mean to make fun of people when you know nothing of their history, their challenges, and their situation in life.  I actually helped that woman and discovered she's bloated because she's taking prednisone for severe Crohn's disease.  She's 39 years old and feels 80.  She's broken.  And you're a jerk.   And if this wasn't a family website, I'd call you something else.  

Sincerely,

Nicole

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There's nothing quite like getting raked over the coals at your endo's office first thing in the morning.

It's a necessary evil. It's actually good for everyone with diabetes to check in with their endo -- or whomever is their primary diabetes caregiver -- several times a year. So I'm not saying I don't want to go. All I'm saying is that it's no fun to hear about what a crappy job you're doing being the manager of your pancreas.

I think it's been about fourish months since I last saw K, the nurse practitioner at my endo's office. Last week I had an ultrasound on the thyroid nodule that was discovered last year. So tomorrow's appointment will be to go over the results of the ultrasound, to go over results from routine blood work I had several weeks ago, to get my A1C and to check over my general diabetes care.

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Health insurance seems like a big mystery to me.  Not for nothing, but employer to employer the employee contribution, access to services, co-payments, and deductibles vary so widely it seems that changing jobs - and therefore health insurance - is like moving to another planet.

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First, let me tell you that I used my very last sensor in February, and didn't even get a full life out of it. I decided to try to different spot on my belly and it wound up being a crap spot because the readings would come in sketchy and after about twoish days I realized most of the adhesive had come off. So I begrudgingly yanked it.

But I was in the midst of fighting my insurance company for coverage of my sensors and I was certain that the situation would be resolved soon and that it wouldn't be long until I had replacement sensors. And then one day, like magic, I got word that the sensors were covered. It was like an enormous weight was gone.

I quickly took care of the other weight on my shoulders: paying my deductible from the last batch of pump supplies I received. Medtronic said I only needed to pay it in full before I ordered supplies again so I was taking my time.

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In my last post, I wrote about fear.  Turned out, my roommate didn't even wait a week.  She left on Friday morning, in a torrent of weird and angry that I won't get into.  I spent the better part of Friday with bloodsugars through the roof.  This continued into the weekend a bit, until I finally got a handle on my own ball of emotions.

To add to the diabetes madness, my insurance company has decided to stop covering the Novolog insulin that has worked so well for me for so long.  Well, it's not that they won't cover it, exactly.  It's just that I'm now required to get a prior authorization and pay the third tier cost for the drug.  Clearly, taking on a place meant for two on my own has thrown enough of a wrench in my finances that an additional $75 per month in co-pays is not going to happen.  

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and it's not about me.

I'm not even sure it's about medical insurance -- but it's sure about the D.

I've recently learned that a recent infection has cost a close real-life friend (and fellow PWD) another one of his toes, and a sizeable chunk of uncovered medical expenses. Until this weekend, a number of his close friends (including me) had known he'd been hospitalized, and that there was talk about a skin graft after everything healed -- but we didn't know the extent of the damage (both physical and fiscal).

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