I bought a meter on eBay. My plan was to then submit the paperwork and get the insurance to pay for it and the test strips. Roche will not 'sell' you a meter until you've been on warfarin for 90 days. Once I got the form filled out and sent to my cardio for his approval, then Roche contacted me. I found their rules to be rather limiting. You have to call the results to them and they contact the doctor. You have to have a new prescription to change the test frequency. At this point I decided to just keep buying the strips myself. I have my INR done at the clinic at my employer and I then do my own check with the Coaguchek at home on the weeks that I don't have a lab INR.
The meter works well, but you do need a rather large blood drop, which I still struggle with a bit. I like the meter and having my own means to test is really important to me. There is evidence out there that says that 'home testers' have a better long-term mortality due to better INR control.
You can get on the Roche site and fill out a form that will get the 'ball rolling'. You should then be contacted shortly by their representative who will forward the appropriate forms to you.
