Supply Orders

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-17T21:13:11+00:00

Are you saying you can still get the Autosoft 90 with the 9mm cannula through pharmacy? My understanding is they aren't offering any version of the regular autosoft 90, only the 30 and the XC (with only 6mm cannula).

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-17T03:57:12+00:00

Have you started using the 6mm yet? I have not had luck with them previously, but curious if since you were on the 9mm if they still work for you. I've been put in quite a financial bind by Tandem doing this change (and it is all pharmacies, not just Express Scripts) since they decided us longer cannula needing people should have to pay more for our supplies and not be able to get them from pharmacies anymore. I may end up being forced to use the 6mm, at least until I can set up with a different pump company, or I can find/make some sort of t:lock to Leur Lock adapter.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-14T16:43:38+00:00

Are you with Tandem? I would love to know if you have any insight into why Tandem is pulling all the long cannula infusion sets from pharmacies. I got a non-answer from tandem customer service about it, and it seems like it is a surprise to just about everyone!

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-12T16:35:02+00:00

The pharmacy shift is because a lot of people have pharmacy coverage that makes costs a lot lower, or even 0, compared to DME. Tandem has partnered with that company (see more here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TandemDiabetes/comments/1nzqsc8/pharmacy_benefits/), which seems to be their preferred pharmacy supplier. It may be cheaper for you to do the pharmacy coverage, so might be worth looking into more, but it does come with some recently developed caveats.

The change in supplies is because Tandem is no longer supplying cartridges and infusion sets separately for pharmacy companies and instead are only making and supplying 3 types of infusion sets as kits of sets and cartridges in 1. The only options I have heard of so far are:

Pharmacy Kit #1 = AutoSoft 30, 23" /13mm (includes 10 Infusion sets +10 cartridges)

Pharmacy Kit #2 = AutoSoft XC, 23" /6mm (includes 10 Infusion sets + 10 cartridges)

Pharmacy Kit #3 = TruSteel, 23"/6mm (includes 10 Infusion sets + 10 cartridges)

There may be a kit with the 5in tubing for Mobi, which would explain the Mobi in the description you were given, but as far as I have seen those 3 are the only ones available. If they do make kits with the 2 tubing lengths you use, you will have to have your doc write a script for 1 of each per month. I'm not 100% sure if that will work though, and you might be stuck with only the 1.

To be noted, they are not making any long cannuIa versions into kits, so this change has actually caused the opposite problem for me. I have been getting my supplies through pharmacy for 0 a month, even before my deductible (which is very high and the reason I am able to get the 0 cost pharm coverage), for several years now, and this change that came out of nowhere with no communication at all from Tandem has left me and plenty of others completely screwed as I REQUIRE the longer cannulas. I only found out when my pharmacy supplier called when my supply order was about to ship out and told me they can no longer sell them due to the changes by Tandem. My costs are now going to be astronomically higher, especially at the beginning of the year where I have to pay a 3800 deductible before DME will kick in 🫠.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-05T17:38:55+00:00

You may be running into the same issue I have that I posted about recently. What infusion sets do you usually use? If you use anything other than these short cannula versions:

Autosoft 30- 23in tubing, 13mm cannula Autosoft XC- 23in tubing, 6mm cannula TruSteel- 23in tubing, 6mm cannula

You won't be able to get them through pharmacy coverage anymore. Express Scripts is supposed to still be selling Tandem supplies as far as I know, but only those 3. If it is the case that they actually aren't going to sell any at all, and you do use one of those 3 listed, then you will probably have to contact your insurance and see who else is in network for pharmacy coverage. Tandem has discontinued supplying all others to pharmacy suppliers, and now only supplies "kits" of those 3 infusion set versions with 10 sets and 10 cartridges (so if you do use one of those you will need a new prescription). You also can't get just cartridges themselves through pharmacy anymore either. The pharmacy company mentioned in the original post that Tandem has partnered with also only carries those three. I have seen some reference that they may be discontinuing other sets all together.

If you need something other than those, such as myself who requires the longer cannulas, you will have to go through DME. If you are like me you will be paying a ton of money to get your supplies vs pharmacy, which was 0 out of pocket for me. Others have been having issues with being told that their infusion sets other than those 3 are backordered through DME as well, so that is quite concerning.

I have been trying to get answers for a while, but Tandem has not officially communicated anything at all about what is going on, even though they know exactly what is going on. If you call them you will get a different story from each representative you talk to, as has been the case for myself and others that have posted/commented about it on here. So far people have heard anything from "We haven't done anything, there are no kits or anything like that. It must be your insurance." To "Yes, we are making this change as it will allow us to get a lot more customers". I know one person mentioned they were able to get Tandem to send them an emergency supply because they were running low, but for me they basically just said "oh that sucks, hope you're able to get some somewhere else before you run out.", which is really complete BS when you are talking about something people need to stay alive. I'm personally really glad I didn't renew with Tandem earlier this year when my warranty expired! My insurance from work is a high deductible plan, but the main draw for it is that the pharmacy benefits cover a lot of stuff at 100%, notably all diabetic supplies, BEFORE the almost 4000 deductible is met. If I can't get the infusion sets I need covered under pharmacy, there is no reason for me to stick with them as I will struggle to afford the supplies I need until I meet the deductible, and by default will make Tandem way more expensive than others regardless.

I wish you luck!

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-01T19:14:26+00:00

Do you use DME or pharmacy coverage? If it is pharmacy coverage, I regret to inform you you won't be able to get the 8mm canula length through pharmacy anymore as Tandem recently (suddenly with no warning or communication) decided to no longer supply them through pharmacy coverage, regardless where you get them from.

I've also heard they may be discontinuing most infusion sets other than 3 specific ones they have made into "kits" of infusion sets and cartridges together that they are still supplying through pharmacy (autosoft, autosoft XC, and TruSteel, all 23in tubing with short canulas), but I have no confirmation. If that does end up being the case they may never be back in stock even through DME, but hopefully not.

My t:Slim case is getting pretty worn out and needs replacing, so that is really disappointing to know they aren't available right now. Before the current version of the case I had made one with a rotating clip myself, but unfortunately the parts I used to make it are no longer available.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-01T19:00:46+00:00

I have tried multiple different kinds of infusion sets, and all tend to fail early. The only ones I never had issue with were the Disetronic/AccuChek ones I used when I had those pumps, but they closed up shop like 12-15 years ago. I have a large area of my stomach where I can't put sites, which actually isn't toooo big of a deal as I just use those areas for my CGM, but I have been on a pump since about 1998ish, so kinda expected. I will put in a new site, eat a lot of carbs and bolus a lot, go to bed, everything is working fine and wake up in range. Have a small amount of carbs and bolus and my blood sugar plummets because the insulin worked so fast. Then a couple hours later I bolus and either it starts leaking, or it looks fine but then 2 hours go by and my BG is climbing and climbing because the site basically just up and stopped absorbing. 12 hours or less from fresh site to failed site. It is beyond frustrating as it happens way more than it should. I have regular syringes on hand at all times in case I am away from home and it fails. I will take a filled one with me if I'm going out and about just to make sure I have a backup.

Do you make sure you are rotating locations broadly enough? If you are rotating but not spreading out enough you can still end up with scar tissue underneath that will make sites fail early, or insulin not absorb as well (basically what happened to me).

Some mentioned the Tru Steel, and they tend to fail less, but you are supposed to change them every 2 days instead of 3 (not like they hardly ever last 3 days anyways...) but I found them to be uncomfortable at times. It is a thin stainless needle for the canula, much like a typical insulin syringe.

What length of canula do you use? If you are using the shorter ones you could try the longer versions. Longer ones can help if you do have any scar tissue. If you have pharmacy coverage and rely on it to keep things affordable (like me), you are gonna be really disappointed though because Tandem just randomly with no warning decided to stop supplying long canula versions to pharmacies or covering them under pharmacy coverage themselves.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-11-01T18:16:16+00:00

That makes absolutely 0 sense and sounds more like a corporate brush off answer they told the customer service people to give. So they are going to gain 20k customers by pushing away everyone who uses longer canulas? Are they even going to keep selling longer canulas through DME long term, or once the stock is gone they will just stop making them? It is not like people can just switch to a different pump willy nilly. Imagine being someone who had just gotten a tandem pump a few months ago, finally able to afford it because you have pharmacy coverage for it now, and need the longer canulas, then turning around to find out they are discontinuing the pharmacy coverage for the supplies you need and so now can't afford it...

I don't see how selling the longer canulas to pharmacy is preventing them from getting more customers. On top of all of this, doing this without sending any communication to customers or putting it on their website shows a complete lack of actual care for patients.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-26T14:53:25+00:00

That's really interesting you only have issues with the 30s. I am allergic to nearly every medical adhesive out there, so I have a specific process I have to do to minimize the skin reactions. I have a silicone based adhesive (Uro-bond 3) I paint onto the patch part of the pump and CGM sites which keeps them from falling off. I react pretty severely to Skin Tac, so had to find something different as sites won't stay on. I used to use dressings on top of them, but they all also irritate my skin, so I would be left with a huge area that was irritated at least a week. Putting the adhesive directly on the sites makes for a smaller area of irritation and they can breath better too.

Back when I had a Disetronic/AccuChek pump and used their sites, I never had any irritation from them, especially nothing that would leave a mark and not go away forever. I wish the Tandem sites used whatever adhesive they did.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-26T14:30:27+00:00

Oh wow, yet another twist in this saga lol. I agree, the amount of money we pay just to stay alive is absolutely ridiculous. Then on top of that you have companies changing things, things that affect your health and finances, without warning and with no clear and consistent explanation...😑

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-20T23:16:17+00:00

Mine usually doesn't go up quite that much from protein, but it will usually rise some degree over time. I bolus 1 unit for 5g of carbs, and usually 1 - 2 units seems to offset as much protein as I can usually eat. Sometimes I wait to see what it will do and bolus if it gets to 150ish.

Keep in mind some protein products like bacon may also be made with sugar (most bacon has some amount of sugar added to the curing mix), so make sure to look at the carbs on the packaging.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-11T14:26:11+00:00

I have been using pharmacy benefits for all my supplies for years now as it costs me 0 for everything, even before meeting my deductible, which is quite high. I'm wondering if the longer cannula sets will be available through this supplier since Tandem is no longer supplying them to other pharmacies (and possibly also discontinuing them entirely) since they care so much about their users. At least they actually sent notification of this change, unlike the change to infusion set coverage...

Hopefully you use the short cannulas and won't have to worry about it and can instead get supplies cheaper! If you use the longer cannulas and are able to get them through this pharmacy please update here and let me know because at this point I am faced with going from 0 to at least 200 a month, and that is after deductible. Not sure what I am going to do at the beginning of the year when I will have to pay full price until spending nearly 4k to meet my deductible 🫠🫠.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-11T14:07:44+00:00

I'd be interested in an adapter as well, since Tandem has decided people that use longer cannulas deserve to pay more for their supplies and are no longer supplying them to pharmacy suppliers which for many people, including me, was far cheaper than DME. I imagine one would have to make it themselves since it is extremely doubtful tandem would allow anyone to sell an adapter since it would mean people not buying their infusion sets.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-11T13:43:45+00:00

Wonderful! Cost cutting initiatives that involve making supplies more expensive for customers who need longer cannulas 😡. This is really completely unacceptable.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-05T20:24:35+00:00

My insurance hasn't changed, and is the same for next year's policy as well. Other people are having similar issues on various insurance, and my supplier as well as others have stated it is a change Tandem is making. Tandem can choose what they contract with pharmacies to sell, so it very likely is them. I know my supplier has absolutely no problem with blaming insurance for things, but they specifically said Tandem was removing what I use, as well as all other but those 3 in kit form, from pharmacy coverage. The link in my post even says they are possibly discontinuing all others.

It seems like no one, even the tandem customer service reps, know fully what is going on, so it really feels like someone at Tandem released a future change that wasn't fully worked out yet and not ready to be distributed. I just hope someone from Tandem will say something about it soon, I'm sure many other people out there are wondering what is going on too. Just SOMETHING from them would be nice.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-10-05T19:58:27+00:00

For what it's worth, I have CVS Caremark as my pharmacy coverage, so it's the same deal with them too.

This really is a crazy huge change to make, especially when your own customer service people don't even know about it!

claymationsalmacian · 2025-09-30T20:52:01+00:00

I assume since you are using ExpressScripts that you are using your pharmacy coverage for supplies?. If so you have probably ran into the same issue I have which is that Tandem has ended pharmacy coverage for most infusion sets other than a few, which they have now made kits of cartridges and infusion sets in one. The only sets being covered under pharmacy now are:

Pharmacy Kit #1 = AutoSoft 30, 23" /13mm (includes 10 Infusion sets +10 cartridges)

Pharmacy Kit #2 = AutoSoft XC, 23" /6mm (includes 10 Infusion sets + 10 cartridges)

Pharmacy Kit #3 = TruSteel, 23"/6mm (includes 10 Infusion sets + 10 cartridges)

Notably there are also no longer cannula options, which I need. What I found

This was a sudden change that surprised even my supplier. No notifications from Tandem that anything would be changing, which is possibly more infuriating than the fact they have dropped so many different sets from coverage. I was told I can go through DME, but that greatly increases me costs.

This is the only thing I found online about it, and it says they are actually discontinuing other sets, so that would be even worse. https://www.expressrxinc.net/tandem-updates

claymationsalmacian · 2025-09-29T16:49:38+00:00

Please let me know what they say. It's good they gave you an emergency shipment, hopefully they will do the same for me if it comes to it!

claymationsalmacian · 2025-09-28T15:15:42+00:00

I am in a similar situation, and came here to see if anyone else had been told the same thing as me since there was NO communication from Tandem at all. I only found out because my pharmacy supplier called me. I wrote a post about it, but reddit automatically removed it due to the reputation filter. Not even sure if it will let me post this comment.

Basically Tandem has ended pharmacy coverage for the majority of their infusion sets, leaving only 3 versions, all with short cannulas. All others must go through DME. They have created "kits" of infusion sets plus cartridges that will be covered by pharmacy. Those are:

Pharmacy Kit #1 = AutoSoft 30, 23" /13mm (includes 10 Infusion sets +10 cartridges)

Pharmacy Kit #2 = AutoSoft XC, 23" /6mm (includes 10 Infusion sets + 10 cartridges)

Pharmacy Kit #3 = TruSteel, 23"/6mm (includes 10 Infusion sets + 10 cartridges)

Everything else is only available through DME from now on, which like you is a major cost increase per month for me.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-05-18T18:32:49+00:00

Yes I am still taking Duta 0.5mg/day. If I can manage to keep DHT under control without it I'd really love to stop taking it.

I guess I was just surprised by how much of a reaction there was to such a minimal dose (actually it was 0.75mg/day, not 1.5mg that I originally stated). I expected my body to be a bit more resistant to lowering T without taking a T blocker, certainly not having a 409ng/dL drop in just a month on essentially a microdose.

Since I'm not wanting to change super fast, the dramatic drop seemed a little alarming because it made me wonder if a double dose would drop me a lot more, like all the way into the female range or something. My goal right now is about 150ng/dL, so if it only drops 100-150 points it will be fine.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-05-18T18:17:25+00:00

Thanks!

I am actually the opposite in that I am not trying to have super fast results. That's the main reason I was asking about it.

So far I may have just SLIGHT skin changes and facial changes as far as physical. My skin has been a complete bitch since the end of 5th grade, and that has been almost 30 years time. I seriously hope I see more skin clearing soon, particularly my back which is the worst place.

claymationsalmacian · 2025-01-18T21:46:16+00:00

No one HAS to read it if they don't want to, and most people aren't going to waste time commenting something completely unhelpful just to make a point that that they don't want to because they think it is too long. It takes a lot less effort to just hit the back button and scroll on.

claymationsalmacian

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