Stephanie Isn’t it a shame when you are on medicare they treat us like second class people. They send you 2nd hand tslim pump and the accessories that come with it. I received mine from Byram. It was man handled no such thing as security tape on the pump or accessories. I refused my tslim pump because it was used ,referb. If you are going to have a 5 year love affair and be extremely intimate with it ( it better be BRAND NEW ) Good old medicare. Old saying no fool like an old fool. lol. It happened to me
1 Like
Yikes! I will say my hubby didn’t have that happen. Everything was boxed and security-taped. The infusion sets were forgotten, but Byram did send them 2-day express. Thank goodness his diabetes educator had spares for training. I am still trying to figure out what co-pays we will be responsible for. I have called in six times, plus emailed my insurance company. I received different answers every time. Worst cast scenario, we’ll have to pay the 15% DME on everything but CGMs which appear to be 100%. Best case (per Byram) is that all is covered at 100%. The jury is out! It’s life and death, so there aren’t a lot of options. My husband is extraordinarily happy with the system. His A1c has dropped by 1.2 points in just 17 days. And the ease of everything aside from the insulin-loading procedure is worth the switch. But I do have to ask why do his CGMs and transmitter have to have a bright orange “Medicare” label printed on the box? What is different? Medicare certainly isn’t cheap, so why the peculiar designation? I shouldn’t complain. I have a friend in the UK who cannot even get an insulin pump through their NHS.
@Stephanie_Y , the bright orange is to reduce the inclination to re-sell or re-purpose the items.
1 Like
Hi in response to why do they put there own medicare label on products. First off on insulin pumps its all refurbished products ( have been used ) I refuse refurbished equipment especially when it comes to insulin pumps. You pay for new and you should get new not used, that is a fact.
@Al1 Albert, there is no information passing an acid test that Tandem sends only refurbed pumps to Medicare / Medicaid participants. I had a tandem pump die. The replacement pump was manufactured in the 20 days prior to my receiving it. There were two keys the pump was new. [1] the serial number, [2] the firmware hex code.
I am curious, Albert, about the method you use to [1] identify refurbed equipment, [2] your success in receiving replacements when reporting refurbed product.
Hope this helps.
2 Likes
Very similar experience for me @987jaj @Al1 the pump Tandem sent me two weeks age to replace one that gave a particular error code [pump still working OK] had original manufacture date 2o22-04-02. Pump right off the factory floor - and all three Tandem pumps I’ve received while a Medicare Beneficiary have been new.
Another point while benefiting from Medicare with pump and CGM stuff sent to me by Byram, is that has all been awesome and no cost to me. Simple ordering too. Yesterday I received a text from Byram telling me it is time to reorder - to duplicate my last shipment, all I needed to do was text back #1.
2 Likes
Hi Stephanie,
I’'m so happy to hear that your hubby was able to get switched to the t:slim/Dexcom! Congrats to him!
As for your questions, I’m not on Medicare yet, so I have never used that code to order supplies. It looks like others here who are on Medicare have answered it though.
The Dexcom Transmitter is good for 90 days. The sensors are only made to last 3 days. So, he will need to disconnect the transmitter when his sensor expires and will then “re-use” it with the new sensor. It does not get “restarted,” it just gets attached to the newly inserted sensor and then he can tell the system to “Start new Sensor.” Continue to do this until he gets an alert that his transmitter is expiring. At that point in time, he will need to switch to the new transmitter they sent with the new order. As others have pointed out, it is always a good idea to have an extra transmitter on hand, incase of failures.
As for the reservoirs, I am also a person who only uses @ 20 units per day. What I do is fill my reservoir with @ 120 units of insulin (this meets the required 100 unit minimum, plus insulin to fill the tubing). I usually wait until I am either out of insulin, or have less than 10 units left, before I fill a new reservoir and I replace it right then. I have on one or two occasions filled the reservoir in advance, but only when I knew I was not going to be at home when the insulin ran out. That way, I did not have to carry the insulin vial and refill syringe, etc with me to work or a night out. I’d only have to bring the reservoir and tubing. This did not cause any problems for me, but I still prefer to do it all at once.
Hope this helps!
Pam K.
T1D 57.5 years and counting!
Thanks for your insight. My hubby hasn’t had to start a new transmitter yet, but his Dexcom sensor lasts 10 days (not 3), which means he has only changed it twice so far. Pretty easy! He hasn’t encountered many issues at all, except for an occasional “This bolus has not been delivered” message. No clue why that alert comes up because he had not bolused, nor did he even touch his pump accidentally. I have seen comments saying that fat-fingering the pump screen when shutting it off could trigger this accidentally, but in all but one instance, that was not the case. For what it’s worth, my hubby’s right dominant thumb does not bend at the first joint (from an accident/surgery last year), so he has to be pretty careful when pushing buttons. I told him yesterday to call Tandem the next time. The only annoyance is the alarm sounding needlessly. But this pump and Dexcom combo is so much better than his old Medtronic 670g. Minor inconvenience!!
The pump software is designed to deny insulin as a fail safe strategy.
A bolus can be programmed manually under Basal-IQ, or automatically by Control IQ to correct fr a high reading. A manual bolus might not be delivered if the BG is too low. An automatic bolus might be blocked by a sudden drop in BG, a temp basal, a profile time segment change or any number of setting changes including changing to a new CGM sensor. Knowing that there will be no sensor readings for the next 2 hours, the pump cancels everything that was going on automatically except basal delivery and reverts to manual mode.
Any bolus might not be delivered if there is insufficient insulin in the pump or a blockage in the infusion set. The log should give you more information.
If you don’t have a financial issue it’s not a bad idea to have a “spare” transmitter and non-perishable supplies on hand before you need them. Delivery of anything ordered by “mail order” is chancy.
eg The delivery of my Tandem pump was left in my front porch in the rain without getting a signature. . The carton had been broken open during transit and taped back together, the contents were battered but fortunately ok. There was NO packing list in the carton. If I hadn’t known in advance what should h=ave been the carton I would have thought that I was short a bix of infusion sets and cartirged.
The more often you order, the greater the likelihood that a shipment will be delayed, lost ir damaged.
You don’t have to change receivers until the receiver tells you to. The receiver gets a voltage and current level measurement from the transmitter that tells how much charge is left. If it’s nit enough to last for much longer than 10 days, regardless of the “start date”, if won’t you use start a new sensor with that transmitter,
1 Like