JDRF touts win after Anthem decides to cover artificial pancreas systems

JDRF said today it successfully persuaded Anthem to cover artificial pancreas systems, after meeting the health insurer as part of its Coverage2Control campaign.

America’s 25 largest health insurers now cover Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT) MiniMed system, according to the organization.

“This is a great victory for the T1D community. By taking this tremendous step, Anthem is giving its members with diabetes access to this breakthrough in diabetes management,” president & CEO Derek Rapp said in prepared remarks.

“I am so proud of how thousands joined our Coverage2Control campaign to help make this happen. We applaud Anthem for this decision, and will continue to push insurers to make changes to coverage that enable better diabetes management, such as keeping out-of-pocket insulin costs predictable and reasonable.”

JDRF launched the Coverage2Control campaign in May, bringing twelve health organizations on board as campaign partners and crafting a petition that more than 50,000 people signed for the nation’s 25 largest insurers.

Anthem’s preventive medicine list includes insulin, according to JDRF, which helps keep out-of-pocket costs predictable for people with diabetes. The insurer also agreed not to ink exclusive contracts with medical device providers and to cover artificial pancreas systems – devices that monitor blood glucose levels and automatically dose the correct amount of insulin for people with diabetes.

The organization said people in the Type I diabetes community can continue to send letters to their insurer using JDRF’s online platform.

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