Posted 9/9/2011 2:40 PM (GMT 0)
Sometimes I feel like I am in some 4th world country, but I am in the USA. Illinois to be precise.
Oh sure they will provide me with a new meter and 120 test strips per month, lancets, etc to test with, but the problem is their are only 2 brands of meters/strips they will now cover, down from 7 or 8 last year.
One brand can not be found around here, even though Walgreens store brand meter is the exact same thing made by the same company IL medicaid will not cover it because, essentially, it is labeled different. I could use this meter as the testing procedures are identical to the meters I have used for 12 years.
The other meter IL medicaid will cover is the Lifestyle meters. This is the one I have trouble using. Instead of drawing the sample from the bottom of the strip it takes it in on the side of the strip by virtue of these little "prongs" on the strip. You have to jockey the entire meter around to get a sample and those prongs, in my experience, do not draw the blood in very well. Medicaid stuck me with one of those Lifestyle meters last year and after a month I threw it away because I could not use it very well and would end up wasting 2 or 3 strips every time I tried to test. I ended up buying a meter myself that Medicaid would at least pay for the strips.