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Do you ever have days or things happen that just make you scratch your head? Yesterday was one of those for me. 5.5 years ago I went on an insulin pump to control my diabetes and quickly fell in love with how much better it make me feel. I didn't so enjoy the 1200 dollars my part of the cost was after my insurance paid their part but it was still worth it. 4 years later and I'm disabled and on medicare instead of my regular insurance plan with a whole new set of rules to deal with one of the first that made me nuts was no longer being able to get my insulin pump supplies since they cost between 250-300 a month that's more than I can afford on my own so after fighting with them for 9 months I finally had to take it off, pack it up and go back to taking shots to try and control my sugar. As was the first time around it quickly got out of control but then this year in January more medicare changes put my secondary health insurance back in the lead instead of medicare and Humana happens to be the same insurance company I had when I first got approved for an insulin pump, so I contacted them for a company within their network to get my testing supplies from and while discussing the pump problems the rep told me how to appeal that decision now that Humana was primary again and so I did and 1 week later had my pump supplies so I drug out my 5 year old pump again and reset it up and started using it and was loving it but then I get contacted by the new supply company telling me that since my pump was well out of the 5 year warranty I could qualify for a newer model if I wished to try and so I said sure. 3 weeks later I'm using my old pump waiting to hear about approval and then it went crazy and was trying to overdose me on insulin I caught it and pulled the battery to stop it but took me 30 hours to get it to reset and get back to working. The next day I get a call from the supply company wanting to know for the approval if I've ever had any problems with my current pump except it being out of warranty and I told him what had just happened with the out of control dosage. He called back later that afternoon and it's approved my newer model pump will be her Monday but I have to be here to sign for it. Okay no problem, it'll cost me about 20-30 bucks for 6 months then it's all mine. For a 6000 dollar item that's awesome. So yesterday morning I get a call that it's on it's way with a tracking number. I'm celebrating all day long.



Afternoon I get the mail only to find a letter from Medtronic the company that manufactures the insulin pumps both my old and the new replacement I'm supposed to be getting and I get scared it's all fallen through again.



Instead I find it's a emergency notification of possible overdoses from a button malfunction (sound familiar?) and has already caused at least one severe case so that the FDA is now in on it and wanting notified. So I called their number and spent 30 full minutes waiting for an operator but when she finally got on the phone and I was asking about it she asked me to describe exactly what my pump did and when I did she said okay that's going to require replacement, what's the warranty date on it and as she's looking it up on her computer I tell her it's past the 5 year date but she says since I'm now on medicare it extended the warrant by 1 full year so that it's still in warranty until Oct this year. But I got it before I was on medicare even paid a chunk of the price myself? Doesn't matter will you be home tomorrow? Yes the replacement pump will be delivered then.



I'm like wait I have a new pump I just ordered via my insurance to replace this older one, I"d just like to get my old one fixed to have as a backup in case of something happening to the new one, so my I'm sure medicare won't approve another new one... No Miss you don't understand this doesn't involve medicare or your insurance it's a total recall due to warranty coverage and it doesn't cost you or your insurance we have to legally replace it immediately... okay if you say so! Also you must immediately remove your current pump and do not use it, send it back to us in the box your replacement come in and you only have 2 weeks to do that, okay no problem.



So after all that work to just get my supplies covered I've got a new pump just like my old one and another newer model will be here Monday.

It's not perfect it doesn't talk to my blood glucose monitor like my old one which saved me steps in my dosage but still I'm not complaining as the newer model is coming with it's own meter connected to it that will take care of it. I've got my old pump packed up and ready to drop it off at the UPS store but still I'm a bit freaked out about the whole deal. I've gone from buying my pump supplies off ebay on my own to my insurance covering them again as well as 2 new pumps. Who can figure it out?

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MadScientist
16:39 Mar 22 2014

Damn sorry system all around. I can't get emergency dental for a chipped tooth. I should just up and move to Canada. They are fu**ing with peoples lifes here. Seriously, this is the future of medical science, but the damn insurance is stone age.. medieval at best. Might as well prescribe you leeches, and potions.

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Nekirena
20:18 Mar 22 2014

In all honesty, I have to say that's usually how it works. I've had so many issues with insurance and my coverage. I had dental work done while in the Army that was messed up and both my health insurance and my VA coverage doesn't cover either. The work (there were three root canals on the same tooth done) messed up the surrounding teeth and caused cavities and other issues, total amount to fix it all? $4879 and that doesn't even cover the caps, crowns, and antibiotics. It's a damn same.

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Nightgame
15:30 Mar 23 2014

That truly sucks, I thought VA insurance was better than that! Not their hospitals, I found out just how awful they were last winter when my uncle died there, in a room that was set up to hold 8-10 patients though only 4 were in there with him. But then the government has always been good at passing laws that apply to everyone but themselves. State or Federal.

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Nekirena
16:47 Mar 23 2014

If I ever became 100% disabled through the VA (I'm currently listed at 60%) they'll cover dental then. But, even then, it's a stretch because so much work still has to be done. Instead of just fixing it, they would rather it get to be worse. To serve and protect is a very one sided meaning to them. Let the vets serve and protect and the government doesn't do the same for them.

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Those that can only feel good by stomping on others will never be satisfied. I have never understood the need to trash someone else for not being as knowledgeable on a subject as myself, many factors play into it and being smarter isn't even about it. Life experiences play the biggest part and if someone is still very young then they cannot possibly know as much as say someone who lived through it.



For instance one of my niece's friends also 16years old keeps trying to teach me about Watergate (her US History class and she's very conservative Republican are where she gets her knowledge) I listen as long as I can then just have to say, sugar they can teach anything they want about it these days as most of those involved are dead now but I was alive during it, reading the newspapers and media coverage before and after including the resignation of the US President. I don't pretend to know everything that happened but here's a couple of facts that you're not considering.



The break in was not discovered by politicians not democrats or republicans it was by undercover reporters working to ferret out corruption as was the way reporters often worked back in those days. Not like today's 24hour news where the public is fed whatever information the owner of the stations want put out. It's no longer about the pure truth and let the chips fall, it's about swaying public opinion to whatever fits their needs best.



So whenever we mention watching the news at my house, we're talking local reporting on events and weather, yet every time she hears us say it she's all you watch Fox News? I've about had it with that line. Fox news is no more real than SNL and actually I probably get more truth from Saturday Night Live.



I know it's typical of teenagers to know more than any adult and they'll eventually grow out of it or get killed along the way. But this one particular one knows I'm a democrat even if a conservative one so her stuff is getting more and more pushy every time we're together.



I don't practice politics, never been my big thing but I'm about ready to knock some heads if they don't start practicing some manners. I'm no more interested in being converted to her political views than I am her religious views. Much more pushy and she'll find on old dog can still bark louder than her.



But back to my original sentence, if you cannot feel good without trying to destroy others, go away... you suck!

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ZorayaAurora
19:44 Mar 07 2014

Well said NightGame!!!



I get attacked by younger Republicans all the time or Christian young people. I can quote the Bible and they dislike that. I wasn't always a witch. I grew up Lutheran. I know the Bible, I know the church ways, it wasn't for me, my parents accepted that.



These kids today need to listen and be respectful and mindful of their elders but then some adults do as well.



I Like your last line, it's how I feel today!!



I have a friend that's pushing her luck with me, my patience is wearing thin with her. I've been a good friend, I've listened, I've helped, I held her, I cried with her but she keeps being so negative and I mean very negative about people, places, so many things. I called her a negative energy vampire because she loves it and feeds off it...sorry my comment is long...just thought about her and well, she sucks and needs to go away for a bit, lol

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Nightgame
21:14 Mar 09 2014

Yep I've met a few folks over the years like that though luckily none were my friends. Seems nothing ever cheers them up even just a lessening of their own bad luck. You nailed it with the negative energy vampire name.

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