UnitedHealthcare will expand what insulin pumps it considers in-network after a policy change limited which devices were covered.
JDRF, which funds Type 1 diabetes research and led a campaign calling on health insurers to expand choices for in-network Type 1 diabetes therapies, said the policy change was a "direct result of the T1D community's advocacy."
In February 2019, UnitedHealthcare expanded an existing agreement with Medtronic that denoted the devicemaker's insulin pumps preferred products for children with Type 1 diabetes. The move, which UnitedHealthcare said considered the quality and cost of the devices, effectively limited in-network options for the insulin pump from three to two.
UnitedHealthcare will now cover Tandem Diabetes insulin pumps as in-network.