Approximately Eight months ago, I contacted Mini Med about their assistance program, as I was laid off from my job after eleven years on June 18th. I was able to continue with the insurance plan that I had by way of Cobra for as long as I could, so as not to disrupt the plan that I had and the Diabetic Specialist I was seeing. When I could no longer continue to pay $500 a month for Cobra and had used all the insulin pump infusion sets that I had, I contacted Mini-med about their assistance program, and was informed that the requirements for qualification were that I had to be unemployed for a period of less than a year, and that I did not qualify; having been unemployed longer than a year…… I failed to see the connection. I was shocked, and inquired of the person I had contacted if there were any other options available to me, she stated to me there were no other options and gave me no further information. Then, I found out about a program called ACE. So, for $150.00 I joined. Then I found out that ACE does not cover Insulin pump supplies. The reason being, ACE did not have a contract with Mini Med, but said they had tried many times to get one; because of this, I had to go back on manual shots, which after years of having the pump was like having my legs cut off. The change sent my Diabetes and my hypo-thyroid condition out of control, also causing my hair to fall out to the point where I was afraid to comb it. After much time spent researching on my own, I found a non-profit organization that took donations of pump supplies, but to my dismay, they no longer accepted donations from mini-med due to repeated issues with recalled supplies. I then wondered why the lady I had spoken to at mini-med did not offer me the information about non-profit donation assistance sites. I had assumed that she would have had all the information I would have needed being a longstanding customer owning a piece of their equipment that cost approximately $4,000.00. I was also quite offended by the seemingly cold and succinct manner in which I had been treated after years of pump therapy, thus leaving me open to no other alternative than to go on a manual injection regimen. Once back on manual shots, my diabetes quickly began to spiral out of control, also inflaming my thyroid condition. The change was so drastic, that my body could not, and has not adapted, even at this time. Thus causing rapid deterioration of my eyesight, and the development of cataracts, which I was informed will continue to get worse, requiring surgery to correct. The ophthalmologist informed me that if I could not acquire the pump supplies needed, or find some way to regulate my blood sugar, the inevitable outcome would be blindness. Also, the feeling in my left foot has gone, causing balance issues. All of this proves the need for the pump, and the absolute benefits to the patient, again begging the answer as to why a corporation like mini-med, would or could just leave me and those like me adrift, also ignoring the possible benefits to their own newly tainted image in the public arena. Additionally, since I suffer from chronic depression, all of this has really placed me into a dark place where all seems lost and quite hopeless, all due to the seemingly uncaring attitude of a company I had once had enormous faith in. I still maintain a sliver of hope that something may be done to combat the wall of indifference that I have come to know.
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