For you Google Reader folks

Here are the comments thus far on my previous post. I welcome all opinions and really want them so please speak up. Katie I love you for stating your thoughts!

Katie and Tyler said...
I read the article and I think you are blowing it way out of proportion, but I'm not in your shoes. I agreed with John Crowley who said that it's not so much "dissing" the pump as it is making sure the risks are understood and pump maintenance and insulin is monitored closely. I hope that doesn't come across insensitive...I'm only stating how I perceived the article vs. your emotion.

Brooke said...
Geez Katie. So much for the sympathy vote huh. First off I would agree that this was probably the intent of the study. However, the insurance industry will take every opportunity not to pay for anything expensive. I have been fighting with the insurance company for the past year to get Tyler a Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring System, a system which would alarm Tyler when his sugars drop to dangerous levels and we could potentially say goodbye to paramedics forever. There is a downside however in that people would abuse it by not testing (which is still required since it can be incorrect)these people would have several problems. It also took me two years of fighting with my insurance and filing appeals to get my last pump despite the fact that my pump was so old it was in the antique case at the diabetic dr's office. I'm just saying that there is bad to every good and when a powerhouse like the FDA puts out a statement like that it gives insurance companies a reason not to pay for it and it scares doctors into not recommending it for fear of medical malpractice. I just think that if an federal organization like the FDA is going to put out a statement it better be a well rounded statement will all sides being represented.

Tyler said...
Agreed, I just don't think people who live without the daily medical issues we do realize just how much weight a statement like this carries with the insurance industry, these companies now have the FDA saying that pumps are dangerous, now the insurance companies have one more reason to refuse the device to someone... it scares me, the insurance companies will do anything they can to save a buck and protect their bottom line, even if it is to the detriment of the very people they are insuring! I feel the FDA worded this release very poorly, but unfortunately you can't unwrite it, and it is us that will have to deal with the repercussions.