Are all of the USA users getting them at a retail pharmacy? As far as I can tell on the freestyle website this seems to be the only option in the USA? They don’t appear to have an in-house ordering system like Dexcom does?
I’m getting the free trial receiver/sensor via the trial offer from Abbott. Abbott has a listing of participating pharmacies on the Freestlye website. Not all pharnacies can get this. I don’t see any way to order direct from Abbott.
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I’m doing the same…
Are you guys paying the full cash price for sensors for the time being? Or is your insurance covering? Appears my pbm has not yet negotiated out an arrangement—- and given that lifescan (OneTouch) seemingly has some sort of zero competition arrangement with them, I am concerned it might be tough. Sounds like cash price would be about $4-5 / day… which is plenty reasonable even without insurance coverage if it’s a good system
THis recent writeup on DD makes me think most users must be paying cash? https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/freestyle-libre-cgm-now-available-in-us-pharmacies-492429/
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I’m starting off paying cash for 2 extra sensors to give it a good long trial. If its a good system I’ll wade into the red tape with my insurance and figure out how to get it covered. If they cover it as DME I’ll probably keep paying cash; I am hoping it’s covered as pharmacy.
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That’s what’s confusing about it to me… There seems to be no mechanism to order them other than just going through a conventional pharmacy and pharmacy benefits where as with Dexcom it is ordered and billed completely differently
Is your DME benefit really bad? Why wouldn’t you still want to go through your insurance even if it’s covered under DME?
For my insurance, DME has to go through Edgepark who marks the prices up by a few hundred percent. Then a 20% copay means I’m paying about 60+% of retail for my copay. I haven’t figured it out totally, but it seems like my pharmacy benefit has a zero deductible too. I’m hoping I can get decent retail prices by shopping around after it becomes widely available at all the chain pharmacies. Time will tell if that pans out.
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Ahhhh, that makes sense. I haven’t worked with Edgepark before, but I also have a $350 deductible that doesn’t apply to physician visits or prescription drugs. My Dexcom supplies has historically been covered under DME (with the deducitble applied), but it’s not marked up. I’ve heard so many terrible things about Edgepark. I don’t understand why any health insurance company would contract with them.
I have a new insurance plan this year, and Dexcom is listed in the formulary. Maybe I’ll be able to get my supplies that way now.
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Well I got the Freestyle Libre and 3 sensors today for an extended trial. Spent an extra $20 and got some Freestyle strips to try out with the receiver/reader. I’ll be wearing a Dexcom G5 and the Freestyle Libre on the same arm for roughly a month.
It took several calls to my endo’s office, calls and visits to my local pharmacist (who could not obtain it) and several calls/visits with the nearest Walgreen’s. The pharmacist at Walgreen’s mentioned that these are flying off the shelves.
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Did you have to do a cash purchase in the end, or were you able to get it worked out through your insurance?
I used the Abbott voucher for 1 sensor and reader, cash bought 2 more sensors at $44 each. I want to try it out before I dive into the red tape with my rinky dink insurer. I checked their formulary and it appears that Freestyle Libre is not covered as part of the pharmacy benefit, meaning I have no idea what my copay would be if I run the sensors through insurance or if I would have to order via Edgepark. If it comes to that I would spend extra personal cash to avoid Edgepark.
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From what I’ve gathered I think they’re not covered under virtually any formulary yet because they’re brand new, but that they’re not considered DME, so it’s just going to be a matter of time for insurers to get it ironed out unless you have really great insurance that just automatically approves anything into their formulary that the fda approves (probably rare) so I think most of us will be stuck paying cash until the dust settles… at about $45 per ten days… about the price of a premium coffee… really not too bad
I got mine at CVS (through Caremark), 3 sensors for $75 (reader was $61 and change??). I was quoted $150 for the sensors in December, but then didn’t pick up until January (and they’d already pulled them and sold to another customer; had to re-do order), and my cost dropped. Not sure why, but I jumped on it.
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Weird, I checked my Caremark formulary, which I suppose there could me many different versions, and it listed them but just said “not covered” and had no additional information whatsoever… I suppose I should investigate more closely. I can pull strings with my work to get them to approve anything reasonable on a case by case basis, but it’s somewhat of a headache and not a trump card I want to play too often I don’t think… not sure if it’d be worth it to save $60/ month
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See, I didn’t check my formulary - just asked my doc to prescribe, thinking I’d pick it up if it was affordable, or not if it wasn’t. I’m lazy like that… 
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Have anyone called Costco? You don’t have to be a member to use their pharmacy (just say pharmacy at the door) and if you’ve got an RX for something and give it to them, they’ll often have a cheaper price than elsewhere. We’ve been incredibly happy with their service in multiple locations. Might be worth checking if you’re paying out of pocket.
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