Thoughts on Health – 3/23/2012 – Diabetes education class

I did something different today.  I took a diabetes education class.  I had never heard of a diabetes education class until both my health insurance plan and my new doctor discussed it with me.  Today was the first of six 2-hour sessions, and I must admit I was skeptical.  I wondered what they could tell me that I did not already know from doing my own reading and research.  However, I was quite surprised overall.  This was the introductory session, and a good portion of it was either things I did not know or things that I had never had explained to me so clearly before.  I have a better knowledge of how diabetes works, how the digestive system works, and what is happening when we have high and low blood sugar.  I found the whole experience to be highly valuable.  They will also set us up with a dietician who will work on us with a food plan and so forth as well over the future sessions.  I am glad that I have had the opportunity to participate in this, and I hope that the future sessions are just as interesting.

The other valuable thing that I got out of it solved a diabetes problem that I had been having.  The blood glucose tester I was given by my previous doctor has very expensive supplies that are not covered by insurance.  I just assumed that meant the the testers and supplies were not covered by insurance at all.  However, the diabetes educator there told me that my health insurance simply didn’t cover that brand but that if I had one that was covered, then my supplies would be covered with a copay as well.  Then, they gave me two free meters to use that would be covered.  So, once I use up the supplies for the one that I have now, I will then be able to have my supplies covered by insurance from this point forward.  That is also excellent news.

So, overall it was an excellent use of a Friday morning, and I have my next session next Thursday.