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ShareMedicare Part B: Understand Your Benefits
Medicare Part B includes a wealth of diabetes-related services, including education, nutrition counseling, and blood glucose monitors and supplies. Here's what you need to know about Medicare and your health insurance plan.
Medicare Part B
Medicare's Part B covers "a barrel full of diabetes benefits," says Peggy Bourgeois, clinical nurse specialist, diabetes educator, and reimbursement guru in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Prior to 2001, Medicare Part B benefits applied only to people who took insulin. Today, diabetes self-management training (diabetes education), medical nutrition therapy (nutrition counseling), and blood glucose monitoring supply expenses are all covered.
"Widening the window of access has been a giant step forward," says Bourgeois. "But the Medicare education benefits -- diabetes education and nutrition counseling -- remain woefully underutilized."
Many people with diabetes don't know about those benefits or how to get them. Do you?
