Type 1 diabetics disappointed with Alberta’s handling of insulin pump coverage
Posted May 21, 2022 10:24 am.
The relief type 1 diabetics felt when Alberta paused the end of the Insulin Pump Therapy Program has already worn off.
Alberta Health held a telephone town hall Thursday night with hundreds of attendees to discuss its alternative to the Insulin Pump Therapy Program.
Some type 1 diabetics who attended the call say they left feeling unhappy and disappointed.
“There was no meaningful consultation, said Lesley Thompson, a type 1 diabetic who’s been on an insulin pump for close to 20 years. “It was a question-and-answer period where they kept pushing for us to purchase the Alberta Blue Cross program, and the nominal fees are not affordable for most families here.”
When the province first announced the end of the Insulin Pump Therapy Program, there was outrage and backlash. And after the town hall call, some of the type 1 diabetic community in Edmonton still feel like their needs are not being prioritized.
“This new plan will have you paying a monthly fee for your Alberta Blue Cross, $25 every time you fill a prescription, as well as other fees that relate like pharmacy-dispensing fees,” said Thompson.
RELATED: Alberta health minister apologizes, hits pause on changes to insulin pump funding
Benjamin Seigel, whose six-year-old daughter has type 1 diabetes, says there isn’t a good reason for the changes.
“They say that their goal is to be able to offer the more advanced technology,” said Seigel. “There’s zero reason they could not just approve all of the new technology in the current insulin pump program. They just don’t want to.”
Seigel says he’ll have to pay for two different health-insurance programs because his work insurance doesn’t cover his daughter’s insulin pump.
“Before bed, or while she’s in bed and sleeping for example, if we see, ‘Oh, she looks like maybe she might go low if we don’t do anything,’ we can reduce that insulin rate to make up for it, so that we don’t have to wake her up in the middle of the night while she’s half asleep to force juice and crackers in her mouth so that she’s not going to go low during the nighttime,” said Seigel.
While many of the attendees left the town hall feeling like the changes to the program are a done deal, Alberta Health disagreed, saying in a statement: “Plans to discontinue the Insulin Pump Therapy Program and transfer insulin pump benefits to government-sponsored health benefit plans on August 1 are now on hold. No new decisions have been made since that announcement.
“We will not leave anyone behind; we will only move forward once all 4,000 clients know they won’t lose their pump.”
For Thompson and her group, Pump 4 Life, she says this is just round two of the fight to get insulin pumps covered once again in Alberta – without forcing added cost on those living with type 1 diabetes.
“We are creating rallies, there is still more letter writing campaigns. This is not over,” said Thompson. “It’ll be over when the program is reinstated.”
