Episode 7: Insurance

Today we’re talking about insurance and non-medical switching, which relates to insurance. This is something I had to study and learn about, especially when I got my first job.

This episode should help diabetics who are confused about what insurance is, how it works, and why some options are better than others. We’re coming from the perspective of corporate employer insurance and not the Healthcare Exchange, which is more complicated and not something we have experience with.

Wins & Fails

Colleen’s Win: I’ve been trying to fine-tune my basal rates and had a perfect day of blood sugars!

Jessie’s Fail: Did a site-change but accidentally left bubbles in the reservoir. She was high all day before changing the site and experiencing a low blood sugar.

Hack of the Week

Sometimes when changing infusion sites, it takes a while for the site to “kick in” with the insulin. One thing Jessie and I occasionally do is give a small injection with a syringe to “kickstart” the site. We have to be careful with this as it won’t show up as active insulin (or insulin on-board) on the pump, which could affect boluses within that time window.

Diabetes in the News

Tandem’s Control-IQ Hybrid Closed Loop Algorithm Submitted to FDA

This is the algorithm that will deal with high blood sugars. Tandem’s Basal-IQ already suspends insulin for predicted low blood sugars, but this introduction of Control-IQ will help close the loop even further.