Babycakes, it's Blue Friday
By Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
Updated Fri June 27, 2014
I'm not sure what Editor Liz Beaulieu thought when she perused the recent OIG reports on market share of mail order diabetes supplies but I took a look and thought, holy #@%*! It's not that a shift in market share was unexpected, but to see it in black and white was truly eye-opening.
The Prodigy AutoCode had captured nearly 25% of the market, while the so-called "Big Four" tumbled. It would, of course, be nice if the report had looked at the total diabetes market, but that was not the case (nor, apparently, was it the mandate). Obviously, if you are a beneficiary it's gotten a lot harder to find certain brands.
What, however, do the manufacturers think about all this, Liz asked me.
"How are the big companies with branded products not having a fit over this??? They're the ones losing all this market$hare!" (Jo, the $ is intentional. thx.).
It's a good question. Maybe they'll band together and raise hell with lawmakers (although, in the current no-spending environment, not sure it would do any good). They could also hustle (if you can call it a hustle after decades of expensive strips) to get cheaper products onto the market. Whatever happens, one can only keep their fingers crossed that Medicare pricing for ANY products doesn't go any lower.
It's appropriate that I am blogging about diabetes today. The online D community calls for people to wear blue on Fridays to raise awareness. By coincidence, I am.
In other diabetes news:
Thumbs up to Binsons Home Health Care Centers for providing 24 scholarships to diabetes camp.
Thumbs down to yet another media story that refers to a "diabetes sufferer." The "sufferer" in question plans to cycle 2,800 miles across America for charity. I don't "suffer" from diabetes. I do however, frequently find myself annoyed, confused or resigned to it. Personally, I think I'd suffer more from the bike ride.
Thumbs up/down
While I hate to perpetuate the stereotype that any type of diabetes (Type 1, Type 2 and, ahem, gestational) is caused simply
by poor eating habits, this graphic, posted earlier today on twitter, is pretty funny.
Theresa Flaherty, Type 1
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