I have never had an insulin pump before. I am currently in the process of getting insurance quotes. My insurance is going to cover most of the pump, thankfully. I believe I will be paying around 800-1000 out of pocket(don’t have the specifics yet). I wanted to know if anyone knows of any assistant programs that help cover copays? It is a lot of money and even if I could get some help toward the copay would be nice. I’m sure I will have to set up payments but I want to pay the least possible.
I just ordered a new one along with a CGM, and the copay for the two of them together was about $1200. I’m not aware of any copay assistance, but they might work with you on a payment plan. Keep in mind that your infusion set will need to be changed out about every 3 days, and each set of supplies costs about $35 (I know, yikes), so you’ll have to factor in copays for that, too. The good news is you won’t need a long-acting insulin anymore other than to keep a vial on hand in case of emergency, so Humalog/Novolog is the only insulin you’ll need.
This may not be helpful; see if your employer (or if you are a dependent, the employer of whomever pays insurance) has a FSA (flexible spending/healthcare account) and if so, dump the potential copay into that account. at least the co-pay will be reduced by your tax rate because FSA money comes out pre-tax. you can arrange payments with the pump provider, they cannot charge interest - you could potentially write yourself a 1-year loan 0%. good luck!
I recently got an Animas pump and the balance I was responsible for was $800.00, I was worried about paying that in one chunk and I spoke to the Animas representative for my area/insurance and she had me fill out an assistance form and I had to send in my tax refunds etc… To get started on the pump I had to pay $160.00 (20% of my balance due) and wait to see if I was approved for assistance. I am not sure what pump companies you were considering but this was my recent experience with Animas, if you call they will tell you the income requirements for the assistance program, they were very upfront about all of that. Hope that helps, the cost of T1D can be daunting.