We did it. After all of the fighting, suffering, pain, and perseverance. . . the insulin pump is in my hand as I type this. To put it simply: we won.

The fight

As you probably already know, insurance denied us for the insulin pump, not one, but two times in a row while switching denial reasons. The first time kind of shocked me, but I kept my calm for a while. But then they rejected it a second time, and I was angry that they were depriving me of something to help me survive. Insulin pumps can help better manage diabetes and prevent future complications. It also help with the emotional complications that T1D can bring (which I will post about in the near future.) Their reason: I haven’t been hospitalized due to a diabetic emergency yet. To make matters worse, my mom got hung up on when she was simply asking for an explanation. Seeing that we weren’t going to get anywhere with the company themselves, we appealed to a third party with the help of our school nurse, endocrinologist, and pump company advocate. 40 days passed by since the appeal, and we received our verdict in an orange envelope. We saw that the results were. . . an approval! I was going to get everything I needed for the pump. 17 days after we received approval and after numerous follow-up phone calls and emails, it finally arrived on our doorstep. Nobody should have to fight this hard for a life-saving medical device.

Many of our family friends offered to pitch in or to just buy the pump outright. We thanked them for their generous offers but declined. We did this because we wanted to stick to what’s right. I was entitled to the insurance company to get me whatever is in my best interest for my health. Instead, they tried to save money for their own interest, which is not their responsibility. Nor is it the responsibility for my relatives to spend their own money on something that I’m entitled to.

Moral

If you were to get anything out of this battle, let it be to never give up. Had we given up on one of the denials, I would not be here today looking at my sleek insulin pump. So no matter what situation you’re in whether it’s a new job, or saving up for something, remember not to give up because then you have absolutely no chance of achieving your goals. Stay tuned for future posts on my new pump.