Thoughts about upgrading my pump
I have a Minimed 512 pump which I've owned for just over 3 years this week. That means that my insurance will cover me for a new pump in about 12 months time.Or...I can go for the Minimed upgrade program. Except for what I recently found out about this program.
Now please bear in mind that I'm already a little ticked off with Minimed because before I had the 512 for a year, they released the 515 model. And the 515 is a much better pump.
For one thing you can decide on the insulin duration based on what you've found. In the 512 that insulin action curve is fixed. For another thing the 512 treats blood sugar readings that you enter differently to readings that it gets from the (cough lousy cough) BD monitor. At that stage there was no reasonably priced upgrade option, so I've been stuck with this pump ever since then.
So here's what I found out. For $400 I can upgrade to a 'reconditioned' 522 pump. However the warranty that I get with this newer pump only lasts for the duration of the pump I already own. So if the new pump breaks down in 12 months or more it would no longer be under warranty.
What I can't understand (and maybe you can help me here) is why Minimed would expect anyone to spend their own money on something with such a short warranty. Also, why would a 512 user spend $400 for a 1-year warranty when a 515 user only has to spend $300 for a 2-3 year warranty? Does that make any sense to anyone who doesn't work for Minimed?
Have you used the upgrade program? What's your experience when the warranty runs out?
posted by Bernard @ 7:39 PM
3 Comments:
Bernard,
I got my minimed 715 pump in September. They would upgrade for free (I'm 80% sure) if I had gotten that pump after April of this year. However, I didn't. So I was told it was $400 (my minimed rep actually refered to this amount of money as a minimal cost-haha-I wish I had that kind of money.) Also, My warrantee from my pump would have carried over, so I would have been short 9 months on the warranty for the new pump (and with the way my pumps break--I am on lucky pump number three in under a year--that certainly could not be a good idea). However, is your plan really for an upgrade in 4 years? I am confident mine is 3 years. Was this how they did it 3 years ago and with the 515s that it's every 4 years or is that specific to your insurance?
I can't help but feel like they're all making money off of us. Not to be negative, but man is it suspicious!
If it were me, I would probably wait till the warranty ran out then let insurance buy me a new pump. That is, of course, granted insurance is willing to play nicely.
Personally, I feel that all of the upgrade stuff with minimed MUST cater to self pay....Because I can certainly wait for better coverage from my insurance plan for a BRAND NEW pump with a FULL warranty if Im going to pay out of pocket in that amount. It just seems logical, and it is a true lesson in patience. Plus, when you have to wait a full four years for a new pump, you are in HAPPYLAND for the next six months once you finally receive your new one....
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