Question:
I am curious if your medical insurance covers testing supplies at all. My
employer is on the Blue Shield of California Shield Select PPO.
It does cover insulin and needles, but it does not cover testing supplies at
all. I am a type II diabetic on diet and exercise control currently, so I
need to test regularly. My health plan really doesn't seem to want to help
me with this.
I have found even mail order, I will spend at least $800 this year on
testing supplies if not more.
So, I am curious if any plans out there actually cover testing equipment and
supplies.
Answer:
What is Blue Shield of California's policy regarding testing supplies
for Type Ones? (Apart from wanting to cover as few of them as legally
possible in the first place.) And does the policy's language exclude
testing supplies even on a doctor's Rx?
I've got an individual PPO policy from Foundation Health of Calif. (just
merged with Health Net), and all my testing supplies are covered, as
long as I use the in-house mail order supplier and my MD writes a
refillable Rx. Currently my out-of-pocket expense for BG test strips is
3 cents each. Insulin costs me a $5 co-pay per order (usually 2 vials
per order), purchased at a local pharmacy. Rx drug coverage is separate
from other medical expenses and is limited to $1,500 a year. So in
effect medical supply & drug allowances are capped at that figure, and
in any event do not count toward satisfying the deductible (which is
very high).
