Thursday, May 19, 2016

The Healthcare Experience

Diabetes Blog Week; Most people who live with a chronic illness end up with a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with healthcare. How would you improve or change your healthcare experience? What would you like to see happening during medical visits with your healthcare team? How about when dealing with your health insurance companies? What's your Healthcare Wish List or Biggest Frustration? Today is the day to share it all!

I know I wish all my purchasing of a new insulin pump was this easy. I started a five day trial of the Tandem Tslim with insulin actually before I decided to buy the pump. I am going with the G4 model which has the CGM as part of the pump similar to my Animas Vibe. I know I love my Animas Ping but the Vibe had so many screens to go through to do simple things. I love the fact that the Tslim G4 and Tslim have such an easy way to enter the carbs you are eating , your blood sugar and if you need a correction all in one screen. I am terrible about inputting my numbers into the Vibe. I know I was so used to having the ping sinked up that the blood sugars were already there no entry needed. 

I have to say I fell in love with the touch screen and the colors on the display are nice. I love the fact that I noticed when I was on the Tslim my numbers were actually better than when I was on the Vibe keep in mind I only was able to test the pump for 5 days. I know I am looking forward to the ease of use with this new pump. I know I loved the Vibe at first but at times the pump was just too much. So I was really pleased the placed the order for the pump last Friday and I will receive it tomorrow. This is the by far the quickest delivery I have ever had. I also was pleased that my insurance made the process so easy. I have to say the Tandem representative was great she was able to let me test drive the pump with insulin and helped me in getting the process started. I know I could not be more excited about starting my new pump tomorrow.

I have also had my share of  challenges a well. I know when I got new insurance after my new job in December. I had a difficult time getting to see the Retina Specialist. Normally they want you to see the Optomologist first then get referred but who's kidding after several years of Diabetic Retinopathy we all know I need to see the Retina Specialist not an eye Dr. I did win and I was able to go straight to the Retina Specialist but it tooks seven or eight phone calls to get this done.

I know on my old insurance plan I had to fight to get enough test strips and I also had to fight to get Novolog Insulin as well. I know if I use Humalog I bleed through my infusion sets with in hours of insertion. I know I can't ever use Humalog again but I am always worried about them no longer covering the one insulin I can actually use. It seems no matter what insurance company you have there is always issues. I know my new plan does not like to give me enough test strips thankfully I still can get the One touch test strips I use with no issue but it has taken my Dr. sending in sever request to the pharmacy to finally get some what closer to what I normally get. I know thankfully my new insurance does some things quite well but other things not so much. I have decided to just consider it part of the experience and continue to work at keeping the supplies I need available but it seems each year I am fighting harder and harder to keep the devices I need.

No comments:

Post a Comment