My insurance company wants me to get diabetes

[panache45]

I have diabetes and I don’t have insurance. Count your blessings.

[needscoffee]

I would look into alternatives to new, custom orthotics. Does it have to be custom fitted to your foot? Will a generic drugstore insert work? A removable foot boot/cast cost me $150 at the podiatrist’s, but I could have picked one up for a fraction of that at the drugstore or free on freecycle. My PCP just “gave” me a velcro strap to wrap around my arm for tendinitis, and I got a bill for $75 for the strap alone. Research the device he recommended and see what you can come up with. Have you tried a gel insert?

[Lynn_Bodoni]

@Eonwe

I just tried to have this discussion with someone else on the board just a week or so ago.

The issue is not “insurance should pay for whatever I want it to.” The issue is “seemingly arbitrary things that aren’t covered, while alternative treatments that most definitely cost the insurance company more are covered.”

Why will they pay for surgery, but not for orthotics? On the face of it it’s ridiculous both from a patient care perspective and a cost-savings perspective.

This is what I can’t figure out. Surely they don’t sit around and think that if someone needs a problem fixed, paying for only the more expensive option is a GOOD thing?

[LurkMeister]

Some years ago I was looking for weight loss options and found out that my health insurance company would cover bariatric surgery but not appetite suppressant medication,which was much cheaper.