Lost Insulin Pump = Battles w/ Insurance
Back in January, I lost my brand new Tandem t:slimX2 insulin pump. Talk about a $5000 loss. We searched for a month while I had my loaner pump from the manufacturer, but to no avail. I was able to get a free PDM and box of Pods from Insulet, the makers of the Omnipod. In March, I had to order a new box of pods from them that took me up until 4/23. The only beneficial thing about the Omnipod is that there were no tubes.
Well, over the past month and a half, I have been battling with our insurance company trying to get approval to order a new one. It wasn’t until we were transferring props for Brigadoon at WebCo that I received a phone call telling me I had officially been given approval to order a new pump. When I got of the phone that time, I immediately called Tandem. They told me they were wary about it because they didn’t want to ship the pump out and it not actually be approved. Melody, the St. Louis area Tandem rep gave my information to a DME supplier based in Chicago called Doubek. Linda was absolutely amazing. She discussed with me all the information needed to get in touch with the insurance. A day later, she calls and tells me she got the letter of medical necessity from the doctors office and sent that to insurance. Another day later, she calls to tell me that my insulin pump had officially been approved and shipped.
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO FIGHT YOUR INSURANCE.
They might seem like bad guys but you always have a chance. You can make things happen through persistence. That’s what I did.
Thanks go out to my parents and @jamzm for seeing me go through this tough time of loosing my pump, getting the loaner, getting a temporary, and then seeing the joy and excitement I had when I was told my new one had officially been approved.