Diabetic Christmas came early

Curtis had just walked out of my office to check on something when my cell phone let out its alarming "Cat Party" ring. I didn't recognize the number and considered not answering it since I thought Curtis would be back soon and we could finish upgrading this server. But on a whim I answered and it totally made my day. On the other end of the line was my Minimed representative calling to check on the status of my insulin pump. He reminded me my pump warranty was expired and it was time to get a new one (really? so soon?). I told him I had just talked to my endocrinologist a few weeks earlier and was interested in upgrading to the Paradigm pump that talks to a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

He asked what kind of insurance I had and how long I had been diabetic. He asked for my most recent HbA1C rating and if I could sense my low blood sugars. And then he said he could send me a new pump and the continuous glucose monitor as early as next week. It was that fast. I had told myself this was going to be a battle with the Insurance Giants and I was going to have to write a dozen letters or pay a lot of money out of pocket to get the kind of blood sugar control I've been wanting for a long time now but all of a sudden he just told me I have "the right" insurance company and it's not a problem.

I felt the need to ramble to him and justify why I wanted the CGM. My A1C was 7.1 this last time but I would like to have it lower. Somewhere in there I said, "and if I wanted to get pregnant I would want that number to be lower." My rep suddenly blurted out, "Oh! Well, I'll be sure to put down that you're trying to get pregnant because then the insurance should cover your sensors. They should cover a 30 day supply of sensors every ... 30 days, I think." My mind quickly did the math of $35 per sensor times 10 sensors in a month.

Oh yes, we'll be "trying to get pregnant" if that means I don't have to pay for sensors. In fact, my husband works at the same office I do, so we could start trying right now if that would get the insulin pump, CGM and first 30 day supply of sensors delivered by Monday. I'm not sure if some savvy person at the insurance office will realize they're reimbursing both my birth control pills and the sensors in the same month, but I doubt those departments talk to each other. Ideally, just wanting more control should be reason enough itself.