INRatio - Test Strips

[denverman1]

Found out that UnitedHealth will no longer pay for the home test. My provider was Phillips Remote (formerly Raytel). I called them up and they told me that UnitedHealth had originally purchased the testing unit for me - so I own it now. I asked them if they sold the test strips - they do (12 strips for $84). My question is - does this sound reasonable. Are there any other options to purchasing the strips?

Thanks
Mark in Denver

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I would get the information directly from UHC. I'm not sure of this particular change, but rarely do the providers give accurate information. Rarely is there a benefit change that applies to all members, especially in the middle of the year. It could just be that they are now out of network and there may be another in network vendor.

 

[kerri73]

I just bought mine through UHC and Phillips late last week, and nothing was mentioned at that time. I'd definitely talk to UHC directly and see what you can find out. Hopefully that's not the case, though! I was googling last night to see what I could find for test strips... amazon.com even has them on their site, which I found interesting.

 

[denverman1]

It seems that not all UHC contracts are the same. And they seem to change from time to time - depending on employer renegotiations. Yes - three years ago UHC bought the monitor and has been paying Raytel the monitoring fee. Then they stopped paying the $280 fee. I started getting the bill from Raytel. I called Raytel and they told me that they had received a list of clients from UHC that would no longer be allowed home coag testing. I called UHC and they walked me through my on-line copy of the current contract and low and behold it now states that UHC will not pay for home testing... So now I am on my own - which is not a bad thing. I will just budget in the cost of the strips into next years flex-spending plan. But I do want to shop around before I start ordering new strip supplies. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

The contract with Raytel/Philips is a national contract and doesn't differ by employer. So, I think what you mean is that it's not because of the UHC contract with the provider, it's because of your employer's chosen benefit plan. Your employer chooses what they want to have covered, based on cost, and apparently they chose not to include home testing. There are probably thousands of different benefit plans.

When did the benefit plan change? It would usually be at the beginning of a new benefit year, which is January 1 for most employers.

 

[denverman1]

Lisa - Yes, that is about (January 1) when UHC stopped paying for Raytel (Phillips) charges. The health plans seem to change somewhat every year. Less and less is covered...
Kerri - I checked Amazon and found the same strips at about $250 for 48. This works out to be about $5 per strip. That is cheaper than Phillips at $7 per strip. But is was from a company called "Record Store"???? The diameddirect.com sells them for $204.28 for 48 strips (which worked out to about $4.25 per strip).

Thanks all - have a great day!
Mark in Denver

 

[Marty]

I don't think you can do much better than this. My strips from Medical Express, with shipping, go for about the same price.

 

[Philip B]

Test Strips????????????????

Test Strips????????????????

Be careful Mark...you may become a target for the wrath of the moderater...they're pretty strict about who people talk about sources for test strips...is Amazon an "approved supplier?"

The prices you are paying sound pretty low. The INRatio strips I use cost me $14.00 a piece if I purchase the strips in a 12 pack; the strips cost me $4.00 a piece if I purchase the strips in a 48 count bulk package.

Interestingly, some of the suppliers (like QAS) of the INRatio strips refuse to sell home testers the 48 count bulk packages. It seems there's more profit to be made by selling the 12 packs.

My insurance company refuses to pick-up the costs of my perscription test strips. Needless to say, I'd rather pay $4.00 per strip than $14.00.

-Philip

 

[Moderator04]

Be careful Mark...you may become a target for the wrath of the moderater...they're pretty strict about who people talk about sources for test strips...is Amazon an "approved supplier?"
-Philip

In these tough economic times, everyone is trying to save money.

As far as the site goes, we recommend using only Hemosense authorized distributors which can be found here:
http://www.hemosense.com/patient/purchase.shtml

You're certainly more then welcome to purchase from whomever you wish, but as far as this site is concerned, we recommend only authorized distributors for the purchase of instruments and testing supplies.

 

[Blanche]

buying test strips

buying test strips

Buying test strips in bulk (48 per package) may not be the best idea.

The last batch of 48 that we purchased mid-June 2009 has an expiration date of November 2009. Since we have two people testing it does not pose a problem for us.

Blanche

 

[Bina]

There are some things that I will buy on-line or from discount shops, etc. but my testing strips are NOT one of them.
Ordering 48 will last me the year (testing every second week) at a cost of $182.
and like Blanche mentioned, always check the expiry date.
(My pharmacist knows that I don't pay until the order is right).

 

[COLLEEN S]

That's crap! I hate when this stuff happens.

 

[Roger Frank]

I know some don't recommend this but I've saved quite a bit on eBay and had very good results.

My 2 cents,

Now...don't ask me about latest eBay adventure with so called "new and "refurb" cell phones...