I have been looking into CGM's for awhile now, and it looks like I might finally be able to get one! My question is, how long are the warranties on them, and are they handled the same as pumps by insurance companies? ie. Are they automatically replaced at the end of the warranty period? I have a year left on my Animas pump, if the warranty on a dexcom cgm is also a year, I could get a cgm now and when both cgm and pump warranties run out get the new integrated system. I'm not sure, so thought I would ask you guys!
For the Dexcom, there is a "limited warranty" of a year on both the transmitter and the receiver. I think it varies from insurance to insurance as to when they'll replace the system.
The warranty for the Dexcom will only cover so much. Not to mention for them they only give the entire unit a life on one year. That is because the transmitter is only supposed to last a year. It has a self contained battery so once the battery goes, the entire thing is gone. I actually got an e-mail from my rep last week telling me things were past their expiration. I started my transmitter last June and it is still going, but I do worry it will die soon. I just started the paperwork for a new set of everything, for when the transmitter dies.
Most CGM's have limited warranties on failures. The Medtronic one is for a year I think as well.
Six months after being put on the pump (from Medtronic) I was put on a CGM from them. At that time the pump waranty was 4 years (ended in August 2010) and the CGM waranty was 90 days. I still use the same pump and CGM and they both work fine. The CGM has to be re-charged with a AAA battery every 6 or so days and the sensor is supposed to be changed every 3 days. However, I leave it in for the 6 days and "lie" to the pump by telling it that I have installed a new sensor after the expiration time of 3 days. The calibration time between the sensor and the actual metered BG takes about 4 to 8 hours to settle into a good correlation between the two.
I just started the paperwork for a new set of everything, for when the transmitter dies.
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I was wondering about that -- whether they'd let me know when I should replace it after a year. So, you have to go through insurance again? Annoying! To get approved the first time, I had to show I'd had at least 5 lows a week under 60 or something random like that. How am I supposed to show that after a year on the CGM??
Once you get approved it is highly unlikely that insurance will stop covering you. The first time I had the Dexcom I had to pay out of pocket. Yet when my insurance started covering things it was much easier.
When I was contacted by Dexcom, I was told they would check my benefits to see what my insurance would cover and they would call me back. Once that happened in my case they had to go through a third party to dispense the unit but that was nothing. It took a total of about a week once we started the process, the only thing they needed was the Doctor to sign one form for me. It went fast. So now I have sitting on my shelf a nice new CGM waiting to be used once the current dies.
Does anyone know how I will finally know when the transmitter is dead?