Has anyone heard about this?
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I haven’t seen this. That is insane…and a whole lot of other words…
Wow…
Not sure yet (the video wasn’t clear) whether it’s a CVS issue, or a Medicare issue, but yeah…I hope this doesn’t impact us because we need more than 3 per day (on average, we use about 5 per day). So, if this is a CVS thing perhaps we’ll just have to go elsewhere. If insurance/Medicare is willing to pay there isn’t any reason I can think of that they should or would deny selling them.
At the end of the story it sounded like it was strictly CVS and not Medicare, with CVS telling her to go elsewhere to get her full amount.
Maybe it has to do with profit margins for CVS regarding Medicare and test strips specifically or something else financial behind the scenes?
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Will find out soon if we’re impacted…appointment is coming up next week. Will update.
That’s what I assume is going on as well - it’s a profit/not getting paid thing.
In January a topic about this issue was started at TuD: CVS will enforce 3x/day Medicare test strip limit
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this is a CVS issue, not a Medicare one. i just had my endo call my prescription over to Walgreens/Duane Reed and had no trouble getting approved for 10/day for 3 months at a time (900 strips) and my Medicare co-pay was something like $14 total. (and, btw, my endo said that he has been doing this for most of his patients since this CVS thing started.)
hope this helps.
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Yikes. Never switching back to CVS, hope Walgreens doesn’t start this bs.
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I had a long battle with my insurance company (not medicare/CMS) about the amount of test strips my doctor was prescribing; 10/day IRC. Eventually the insurance company accepted the prescription and Walgreens (in this case) filled it. By that point I had decided that going to a CGM was better; I get approaching 288 test strips a day without the corresponding blood loss. It was far far easier to persuade my insurance company to pay for a DexCOM G6 for a year than it was to get 3650 test strips from them for a year and, in fact, my life really is a lot simpler and safer with a CGM.
I also had a somewhat temporary battle with Walgreens over my insulin; I use Humalog KwikPens (even though I use them to fill a pump) and Walgreens at some point last year insisted on counting how many units my doctor had prescribed per day. This is because they stopped accepting a prescription for a number of KwikPens and required a dosage amount; pretty much a nonsense for a T1D, though T2s may fair better.
The fault lies not with the individual entities, whether they be the CMS, CVS, Walgreens or our doctors. It lies with the system which inherently encourages this kind of behavior. Alas the responsibility for the system rests with us; it’s our system, we have to change it.
John Bowler
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Dont totally knock CVS. i get my NovoLog for free. no co-pays at all. why this is, i havent a clue. i just smile and take the insulin and walk home grinning. 
I just filled a prescription today at cvs for 6 per day. No issues. Of course I have private insurance and not Medicare.
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Just called our local CVS because today is the day we see the Endo, discuss DMMP/504 Accommodations and ask for prescriptions to be filled. CVS said we aren’t going to have any problems at all because, and I quote “This isn’t a CVS issue, this is a Medicare issue.” So, anyone NOT using Medicare who is using CVS should not be having a problem.
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the problem that i faced with CVS wasnt at all a “Medicar Issue.” it was a renewal contract that CVS had made with Medicare. CVS only agreed to provide 3 strips a day, regardless of what type of D you have.
i dont use a cgm, bc it did not work out for me (for whatever reason i dont respond to it as i should). i use about 20+ strips per day, so having Medicare pick up 10 of those strips per day was a huge relief to me. (the rest i buy on Amazon, and i use the Contour Next One meter (which i am gaga over compared to many other meters which i have tried FYI.)
So, I guess, it should be re-worded to say that it is not a CVS issue UNLESS you are on Medicare and then it’s an issue between CVS and Medicare. Sorry anyone on Medicare has to experience this. 
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