Has anyone on Medicare tried to get

[badhair77]

diabetic supplies (glucose meter, test strips, lancets) covered at a local pharmacy? Were they totally covered?

[Sneederbunk]

1. Yes they were covered.

[badhair77]

2. Thanks. Covered, as in free?

My dr wrote a prescription for the One Touch meter, strips and lancets and the bill is about $150 at my local CVS. I didn’t pick them up and I won’t accept them because I can buy them cheaper on Amazon. A rep from my mail away pharmacy said they’d be totally covered. Just want to get my act together before I go to the store.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Free, free, free

[badhair77]

8. Thank you! There's hope in my fight.

[MOMFUDSKI]

3. Medicare can't

charge for diabetic supplies such as syringes, lancets, meter. They DO have a 3x/day limit on test strips but your doc can write a script calling for more than that if needs be. AND if you get in the donut hole you will have a co-pay on insulin per Medicare's rules.

[onecaliberal]

4. We can get free lancets and strips but not insulin.

[MOMFUDSKI]

6. It is my experience

that insulin has no co-pay but for a donut-hole situation. My Walmart Pharmacy lists the COST of the drugs charged to the insurance company and my cost at $0.00. The last time I picked up my insulin they charged my insurance company $1400 and I paid $0.

[onecaliberal]

7. We have a co-pay that is very manageable. So grateful for that but I pay a lot in premiums.

I do not have a choice. It is what my employer offers.

[badhair77]

9. Thanks, everyone,

for the info. If helps to go in prepared. Everything I read online indicated it would be totally covered but I thought maybe I misunderstood. My BIL doesn’t even check his glucose number because they wanted to charge him $100 for the test strips. I paid about $23 on Amazon.

[badhair77]

10. Update: I did not get anything free but the cost was substantially less

than the original cost or what I was paying on Amazon.

Meter $7.40
Lancets $0.28 for 100
Test strips $3.30 for 100

Lots of hassle but now it’s finished for awhile.
Thanks for the input.

[badhair77]

11. A second update - I received a check, unsolicited, from CVS this week.

CVS returned the money for the lancets and test strips so they are now totally covered by Medicare. It’s under $4 but I’m still amazed they bothered to send it.

[badhair77]

12. Today I received an unsolicited check from CVS

for around $7 for the monitor. So the cost was covered.