Late last year the Diabetic South African community started a petition. The first time people with diabetes in SA all united for a single cause: to empower diabetics to control their blood sugar by covering the FreeStyle Libre on SA medical aids.
Why a Freestyle Libre petition? Because the Libre is the most affordable CGM currently on the market: R1980 a month with no upfront costs. That’s still far beyond what most people can afford, and at present it isn’t covered at all by medical aids. Hopefully that’s about to change… The end result we’re aiming for is a ‘diabetes tech’ amount as part of the PMB (Prescribed Minimum Benefits) bundle for people with diabetes. This amount could be spent on the FreeStyle Libre or to cover any CGM you choose.
Petition results
We sent the FreeStyle Libre petition to all the major medical aids, and had meetings with Discovery, Momentum and Medscheme. While all three expressed interest, Discovery has since moved forward by meeting with Abbott, the manufacturers of the Libre, and working out a deal. This will either be a pilot to test the project, or access to the Libre if you meet certain requirements – we’re not sure yet.
What is particularly exciting is that Discovery is responding on social media about moving forward with diabetes tech. Take a look below at the response one of our diabetes advocates got from Discovery.
Response from Discovery: discovery_sa
We are holding fingers and thumbs that we can soon report on a positive outcome and that Discovery chooses to be the industry leader in diabetes in South Africa. Watch this space!
[…] your blood sugar results remotely can be tricky, but if you’re lucky enough to be using the FreeStyle Libre, you can take advantage of the FreeStyle LibreLink mobile phone app and LibreView, a website that […]
[…] below and join in! Diabetes advocacy is something we’re passionate about at Sweet Life: our FreeStyle Libre petition last year linked directly to this issue. It’s only when we join our voices together as people […]
I would please like to immediately join this cause and any possible petition to make Freestyle Libre sensors fully covered and part of the PMBs on medical aids. I would also like to go as far as to say that it should then be covered from the chronic benefit and not from a person’s Medical Savings Account.
Hi Charl!
Thanks so much for your message 🙂
What medical aid are you part of? Discovery already covers CGM (in part) on their CGM Benefit (https://sweetlife.org.za/your-options-on-the-discovery-cgm-benefit/), but we need champions for other medical aids to drive the cause home!
[…] Update on the FreeStyle Libre petition: For the first time people with diabetes in SA all united for a single cause: to empower diabetics to control their blood sugar by covering the FreeStyle Libre on SA medical aids. […]
[…] Update on the FreeStyle Libre petition: For the first time people with diabetes in SA all united for a single cause: to empower diabetics to control their blood sugar by covering the FreeStyle Libre on SA medical aids. […]
Saving lives, that is what continuous monitoring does. Saving lives and preventing emergency admissions. It gives the patient and the caretakers/ families peace of mind. I do not understand how this is not already protocol for Tipe 1 diabetes patients? We are almost in 2023. What is the current state of affairs?
Agreed, Emmie! There is now a CGM Benefit offered at Discovery – https://sweetlife.org.za/updates-to-the-discovery-cgm-benefit/
And it’s available on many other medical aids, on application. But we still have a long way to go!
We recently petitioned the Council for Medical Schemes to make it a Prescribed Minimum Benefit, and we’re waiting for their response – https://www.change.org/p/council-for-medical-schemes-cms-make-sensor-technology-a-pmb-for-type-1s-in-south-africa