|
Post by nylefty on Nov 12, 2018 15:15:46 GMT -5
Too bad Medicare doesn’t cover Afrezza. Hopefully it will soon. I vaguely recall at least seeing a tweet from the CEO recently saying Medicare already covered afrezza. What was he referring to? As I wrote in a different thread last January: Medicare does NOT cover prescription drugs, including Afrezza. Commercial supplemental plans sold to Medicare recipients do cover some prescription drugs, but (alas) most of them don't cover Afrezza (or have hurdles such as Prior Authorization to make it difficult to get coverage).
I'm on Medicare and my commercial supplemental plan does cover Afrezza, with prior authorization. According to formularylookup.com these are the Medicare supplemental plans that do cover Afrezza: Health Partners 3 plans 100% Preferred
Affinity Health System Wisconsin 7 plans 100% Covered
University of Maryland Medical System 2 plans 100% Covered
Viva Health Corporation 4 plans 61% Covered
UPMC Health System 8 plans 100% Covered (PA/ST)
OptumRx 1 plan 100% Covered (PA/ST)
Transamerica Life Insurance Company 1 plan Covered (PA/ST)
|
|
|
Post by tomtabb on Nov 14, 2018 19:01:40 GMT -5
I vaguely recall at least seeing a tweet from the CEO recently saying Medicare already covered afrezza. What was he referring to? As I wrote in a different thread last January: Medicare does NOT cover prescription drugs, including Afrezza. Commercial supplemental plans sold to Medicare recipients do cover some prescription drugs, but (alas) most of them don't cover Afrezza (or have hurdles such as Prior Authorization to make it difficult to get coverage).
I'm on Medicare and my commercial supplemental plan does cover Afrezza, with prior authorization. According to formularylookup.com these are the Medicare supplemental plans that do cover Afrezza: Health Partners 3 plans 100% Preferred
Affinity Health System Wisconsin 7 plans 100% Covered
University of Maryland Medical System 2 plans 100% Covered
Viva Health Corporation 4 plans 61% Covered
UPMC Health System 8 plans 100% Covered (PA/ST)
OptumRx 1 plan 100% Covered (PA/ST)
Transamerica Life Insurance Company 1 plan Covered (PA/ST)That's 26 out of 1387 plans -- less than 2%. Further digging into those plans: Affinity health of Wisconsin -- I looked up one of them -- networkhealthfdb.adaptiverx.com/web/pdf?key=cnhmbGV4LnBsYW4uUGxhblBkZlR5cGUtNzU= -- afrezza isn't on the formulary I checked one of the plans under which Viva Health is said to cover afrezza -- www.medicareplanrx.com/MedicationPricingTool/formularyDrugSearchRI.do -- it was tier 5. And I think all of them said ""coverage varies by form/strength" which leaves an awful lot of wiggle room in terms of real coverage.
|
|
|
Post by sportsrancho on Nov 21, 2018 16:34:43 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by sportsrancho on Nov 28, 2018 7:51:19 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by sportsrancho on Nov 28, 2018 7:53:30 GMT -5
Dr. Ben Wheeler, a leading pediatric diabetes researcher in Australia, told the AP that the use of insulin pumps "appears safe" and is "potentially safer" than insulin injections, the traditional method of treatment.
Still, a 2015 study he co-authored found that 40 percent of insulin pump users experienced problems, "with a minority, particularly in children, requiring hospital management."
The study also said "it is noteworthy that overall pump failure rates do not appear to be improving with technological advances."
|
|
|
Post by agedhippie on Nov 28, 2018 10:22:24 GMT -5
Dr. Ben Wheeler, a leading pediatric diabetes researcher in Australia, told the AP that the use of insulin pumps "appears safe" and is "potentially safer" than insulin injections, the traditional method of treatment. Still, a 2015 study he co-authored found that 40 percent of insulin pump users experienced problems, "with a minority, particularly in children, requiring hospital management." The study also said "it is noteworthy that overall pump failure rates do not appear to be improving with technological advances." I don't actually find it surprising that the failure rate remained the same. Almost all errors are either tubing blockages (patch pumps like the Omnipod obviously avoid this) or bad insertion sites. Neither of those is really going to change with technology. These are also problems that I would have thought most pump users hit at some point so I think the 40% number is very low (or the other people don't see it as a problem and hence don't report it). I don't expect the next-gen pumps to fix those problems, but they will be a whole lot simpler to use.
|
|
|
Post by porkini on Nov 28, 2018 13:22:05 GMT -5
A lot of locations could be suggested, but wondering how the NM location is doing with the clientele there? If so, could Oklahoma be another possible location? Was watching the show (info below) on my local PBS and there was a prominent and significant portion of the show where diabetes was discussed and how the Oklahoma tribes are actively trying to educate and provide programs for their members to combat the disease.
|
|
|
Post by sportsrancho on Dec 30, 2018 12:15:18 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by uvula on Dec 30, 2018 13:27:04 GMT -5
The tag line under the VDEX logo went from "freedom from diabetes" to "needle free diabetes treatment". Cool
|
|
|
Post by Clement on Jan 2, 2019 10:10:25 GMT -5
His A1C went from 12.7 to 8.6 in two weeks!
|
|
|
Post by #NoMoreNeedles on Jan 2, 2019 10:21:54 GMT -5
I don't see that. It still says: Vdex: Freedom from diabetes
|
|
|
Post by Clement on Jan 2, 2019 10:33:18 GMT -5
At 00:26 into the video, it says,
"After two weeks we were able to lower his HbA1C from 12.7 to 8.6."
|
|
|
Post by uvula on Jan 2, 2019 10:44:29 GMT -5
The tag line under the VDEX logo went from "freedom from diabetes" to "needle free diabetes treatment". Cool Oops. Looks like the new tag line was just for the recent video. The official logo has not changed.
|
|
|
Post by xanet on Jan 2, 2019 14:11:43 GMT -5
The tag line under the VDEX logo went from "freedom from diabetes" to "needle free diabetes treatment". Cool Oops. Looks like the new tag line was just for the recent video. The official logo has not changed. Good. IMO "needle free diabetes treatment" is too sterile. I like freedom. :-)
|
|
|
Post by sportsrancho on Jan 3, 2019 14:13:00 GMT -5
In answer to the Vdex questions....from Bill . Sayhey is correct, I'm not a doctor and that's an advantage because I'm not encumbered by the "doctor mindset." That mindset is best characterized by a oft-mentioned piece of advice most medical students are given:"Be not the first to try something new, nor the last the abandon the old." Further, docs are notoriously risk-averse and they will avoid something new especially if they perceive it as more risky. While the MannKind Board may have two physicians on it, I suspect (but don't really know) that they don't practice medicine. Further, I question how much experience they have with diabetes.
Regardless of Friedman and Shannon, the real question is, Are we happy with the performance of the company? If you are, then don't vote me on the board. I intend to push for change. I've lost 98% of the value of my investment so I'm not happy. Almost any change appeals to me. More of the same just means I lose the other 2%. Others may not agree; they may be ok with losing 98% of their investment.
We never committed to having a set number of clinics by a certain time. But, in truth, there was quite a learning curve in what we are doing. There was no roadmap to follow. It has taken us longer than we like, but through this experience we have learned how to get Afrezza prescribed and paid for, and how to get the best results using it.
MannKind likely cannot open its own clinics. Vertical integration in healthcare is highly regulated and fraught with legal peril. MNKD can partner with us in different ways so that Vdex can expand more quickly. This is timely since MNKD needs successful script writing and Vdex has proven it can do it.
|
|