Re: Freestyle Libre 3 vs 2

[MickinMD ★]

Yesterday, in my thread about my new endocrinologist, @Parsnip Totin Jack was kind enough to mention that the Freestyle Libre 3 is out already.

My endocrinologist had said on 1/9 it would be "out soon" and that it had additional features that approached that of Dexcom, which measures your blood sugar automatically (every 5 minutes?) but is much more expensive than the Freestyle Libre and Medicare doesn't pay 100% for Dexcom as it does for Freestyle Libre.

So I checked today.  The pharmacy told me that Medicare is not yet paying for the Freestyle Libre 3 because it doesn't come with a standalone monitor: I guess that has something to do with some people not having a smartphone, on which most of us use the Freestyle Libre app instead of the small cellphone size separate monitor, so if it's not usable by all, Medicare ridiculously won't pay for it.

But Sean, the pharmacist, said that maybe in March or April a new determination may let Medicare pay for it.  Maybe that's what my endocrinologist meant by "soon."

Medicare pays 100% for the Freestyle Libre 2, so I'll keep using that.  It works fine except you need to manually run the app every time you want to measure your blood sugar, holding your phone (or the separate monitor) close to the monitor in your arm.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

Thanks for the update. My wife’s PCP said that our insurance (not Medicare yet) should pay for it but if they don’t, then the Freestyle company will provide it for a $75/month copay.