Land of Lincoln Health insurance denied my claim

So my claim to have my insulin covered at the preferred copay was denied yesterday.  Five long months of calling, getting told incorrect information, getting one denial without them even so much as calling my Endo, and now finally just a flat out denial.  Nope sorry they wont cover the only fast acting insulin on their drug list that I am not allergic to so I have to pay the highest tier copay for my insulin. Insulin that I have to take every day to survive.  I can't just skip it.

Thank you Land of Lincoln Health insurance.

I am now going to appeal to the Illinois State Health board or whatever it is officially called.  My insurance broker told me they have to act within 30 days so that will be nice vs the FIVE months it has taken me to get this far.  Jeesh.

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - Continuing Connections

I met this blogger in the TypeOneGrit or the Diabetics for "Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution" (I forgot which one) facebook group- dedicated to following Dr. Bernstein and his rules for managing Diabetes.

http://www.dedicatedtoonemoreday.com

Amber offered me her support and guidance right off the bat and pointed me to her blog.  She is reversing her nerve damage from Diabetes and was a huge inspiration to me to keep on trucking and keep following the No Grain, No Starch, No Sugar, No Fruit way of managing my Diabetes.  Reversing nerve damage caused from Diabetes is an amazing feat and some doctors will go as far as telling you it is impossible.  It is possible if you can obtain stable blood sugars at the same level as those without Diabetes.

My blood sugars have NEVER been better and NEVER been as STABLE as they are now.  I even grocery shopped last night with my 2 year old ALONE at a BG of 80-90 and I never went LOW.  For me, this is freaking IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish.  I go low shopping and that was just normal for me.

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - Favorites and Motivations

(Again sorry this is late)

Im not sure I have a favorite blog post that I have ever written but I know I have a blog post that has seemed to have helped a lot of people.  

This post: Diabetic Warrior Dexcom and Opsite Flexifix tutorial Has seemed to  have helped many people as I get told over and over again how helpful it was and for me this tape is the best stuff ever made.

I am somewhat sensitive to adhesives, almost all of them give me a rash of some description.  If I wear a band aid for more than one day I get an awesome red rash.

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - Food for Friday

(Posting this late as the end of the week and this past weekend was a bit insane)

Ok this is going to be an interesting post.  Especially since I have gone super low carb.

I will go with yesterday since I haven't eaten supper yet today!

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - Changes

What do I feel could use changing about Diabetes.

There are so many things I don't even know where to start or what ones to talk about.

Insurance companies and their seemingly unobtainable hoops to jump through.  We have to fight for the number of test strips we want, the amount of insulin we need, the high cost of pump supplies and CGM supplies.  My daily cost to be here alive and breathing with all the medical equipment I wear broken down costs more than my mortgage payment.  I could potentially afford double my mortgage payment if I didn't have to pay so much to be alive.

New Infusion Sets get FDA approval!

I just read this news from JDRF! Here is the direct link to BD.

http://www.bd.com/infusionset/

Be sure to watch the video

You can also read the news here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bd-receives-fda-clearance-for-a-novel-infusion-set-with-bd-flowsmart-technology-to-enhance-the-use-of-insulin-pumps-300082370.html

This is the email I just got.

#lowcarbhighfat Week three of my low carb lifestyle change

This is my third week of changing my entire way of eating and living with Type 1 Diabetes. I am following Dr. Bernstein's way of controlling Diabetes.  No grains, no startch, no real sugar, no fruit and only 30 carbs a day 6-12-12 and I actually am eating less than that someday.

It has been a difficult task to overcome carb addiction.  I am still craving crappy ole fast acting sugar and grain loaded carbs.  I have even given in a couple times since starting. 

Wow just wow, Land of Lincoln Health boggles my mind yet again

The saga continues!

Land of  Lincoln Health has NOW lost all claims for my daughter for the year, they cannot see them on their side, I cannot see them online and they have no idea of the status of my claim as to billing me incorrectly.

A claim from January they are billing me for a $50 copay and it should be $20.00  and a claim from February they are billing me for a $75 copay that should also be $20.00 They told me a month ago they were going to have the copays adjusted and now they cannot even see the claims.  Awesome. 

So hopefully this medical facility will sit and wait patiently to get paid their money because I know if I pay the amount due and don't keep fighting for this to be fixed I will never see that money back in my pocket again. 

I am also still fighting to get my insulin covered at the preferred tier copay.  They are still dragging their feet, wont return my phones and can't seem to come to any sort of decision.  I think they are trying to drag it out until the end of the year when it just wont matter.  I also read online they have lost millions of dollars this year.....so you be the judge.

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - Clean it Out

 I try hard not to be a hoarder of Diabetic related things but for some reason it is hard not to.  I suppose its because insurance companies seem to fight you on everything you need to survive.

I am fairly certain I have every single blood glucose meter that I have used over the past 15 years. I really don't need to hang onto these things for any medical reasons but each and every one of them has spent such a great deal of time being with me every single day.  I even have the boxes they came in!

We moved back in September so of course every nook and cranny of our home had to be cleaned out and packed up.  I was going through the cabinet that I had all of them stored in.  I considered throwing them out but yet I packed them in a box instead.  My husband joking labelled the box Willford Brimley Diabeeetus, we both laughed.  That box was loaded into my vehicle as to not get lost or smashed.  It also contained my stockpile of Dexcom sensors, test strips, t:slim insulin pump supplies, alcohol wipes, opsite flexifix boxes, a bazillion lancets, and boxes of infusion set iv3000 tape.

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - Keep it to yourself

I share a lot of my feelings and experiences with Diabetes here on my blog but there are things that I don't share as well.  I don't share a lot of my fears about what the future will hold for me with Diabetes and the daily nitty gritty parts that just suck. 

I mean I do somewhat but I don't dig deep into the fears that go across my mind while I am stuck with a high blood sugar or after I have drank my 10th juice box from a yard work induced state of low blood sugar/my brain is working at a snails pace and breathing seems like I have an elephant on my chest.  I keep those feelings and fears to myself mostly because I don't want people to feel like they need to feel sad or worry about me because I'm Diabetic and I don't want people to think of only doom and gloom when they think of Type 1 Diabetes. I don't want to see the look of "gosh it must suck to be you" face, because I get that enough.

#DBlogWeek - Diabetes Blog Week - I can

Today is the first day of Diabetes Blog week started by Karen Graffeo six years ago.  You can sign up here if you would like to join: http://www.bittersweetdiabetes.com/p/2015-diabetes-blog-week-topics-posts.html

Diabetes:  I was diagnosed in 2000 a few months before turning 20 years old.  At the time it felt like a death sentence and I was incredibly depressed.

Today I know that Diabetes doesnt have to be a death sentence and it has taught me many valueable life lessons.

Dear Tandem Diabetes Care and your vague response to not upgrading pumps

Dear Tandem,
   I got my tslim insulin pump in August 2013.  I have loved my pump and loved your customer service up to this point.  I have been reading about your ongoing stance on what you will do to upgrade your current customers to newer software and/of the tslim/dexcom combo.  I have read the latest article where you kind of sort of eluded to the fact that you will be upgrading people to the new software after you get a program FDA approved but still not really stating what you will do for the Dexcom integration. 

I got a wonderful note in the mail at work today

Today at work a piece of mail came addressed to my work, with attention Megan on it.  It was a donation for my JDRF walk to cure Diabetes team and a nice letter explaining who she was and how she found me.  Janice thank you so very much for your donation and for telling me about your life with Diabetes.   Thank you also for sharing the poems that you have written about Diabetes, they were very touching.  I am so very glad that you have also found Calli to be a great resource in our area, she is priceless!

Battle for Humalog

Holy moses I am getting tired of battling my health insurance.  I finally got a hold of Gina on the phone this morning after leaving her messages every day last week and not getting a single return phone call.  She told me that they gave my Endo's nurse a fax number FINALLY AFTER FIVE MONTHS to send the stupid doctors notes to. 

This is just totally ludicrous.  Five months.  Really?  I am so glad I am paying $100.00 per week to have my family insured with this worthless company. 

How much do you all want to bet me that they will review the notes and STILL deny my claim?  So be it if they do, but I will let everyone I know and talk to how terrible that Land of Lincoln Health insurance company is.

Medic Alert Bands and why you should wear one.

Medic Alert bands can be annoying, ugly, pull out your arm hair, twist and flop around and drive you insane.  These are all reasons I never ever use to wear one.

I have been wearing one every day of my life for the past 3 years after I found Road ID.  I have had type 1 for 15 years, driving myself around alone with not one bit of info to the fact I have Diabetes.

"Stop treating food with medicine" PLEASE I beg you to listen to this amazing Doctor.

"Stop treating food with medicine."

If you can take 18 minutes to listen to this doctor talk about the type 2 Diabetes epidemic in our country you will understand why I have chosen the path of eating low carbohydrate in my diet. Carbs are what fuel insulin resistance, type 2 Diabetes and obesity. Type 2 can be reversed if you remain eating low carb but NOT cured. This discussion is also related to type 1 Diabetes, which I have, and how eating lower carb helps me to live better with a pancreas that no longer makes any insulin and how eating less carbs makes me take less insulin which helps me to keep my weight under control. If you battle your weight or type 2 is a worry for you, please PLEASE I beg you to listen to this. Americans are almost all addicted to carbs and that is part of why we are all getting so much more unhealthy and have more disease. Type 2 Diabetics may eventually end up on insulin for a raft of different reasons so eating low carb isnt always a 100% way to live without needing diabetic medication.  Type 1 on the other hand will always need medication as our pancreas does not produce any insulin and until they do find a cure, we always always 100% of the time have to inject insulin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da1vvigy5tQ

You can follow Dr. Sarah Hallberg on twitter at https://twitter.com/DrSarahHallberg

Holy cow I am still fighting my health insurance

Five months, thats how long I have been fighting my health insurance to cover my Humalog insulin at the preferred copay tier because I am allergic to the preferred. 

Called my case manager again, left her a third message, she finally just called me back.  She said she thought someone else was going to be in contact with me.  Yeah not so much.  So I am told she will find out where the claim is and see who I need to bark at next. 

Five months.  WOW do they sure seem to hope that I will just give up don't they?  Well I am not giving up and I never will but pretty soon it will be December and it won't matter because I am fairly certain we will be switching companies again.

What a freaking joke.   Land of Lincoln Health Insurance---DO NOT EVER BUY A PLAN FROM THEM!

One week on low carb

It has been one week today that I started eating low carb, healthy fat lifestyle.  I can't lie it a TON of work and a really huge pain in the rear end but COMPLETELY worth it and COMPLETELY worth not having any ANY blood sugar spikes and hopefully I will get my A1C down to 5 or 6 like all the die hard LCHF Diabetics and by doing that almost eliminate the risk of all ALL Diabetic complications.  I have now set my high alert to 130 and low still at 90 on my Dexcom.  That is a very very very thin gap compared to where I was at 2 weeks ago.