More About Diabetic Meter Control Solution

I sent the postcard back to my heavily advertised diabetes supply vendor, but before receiving it they called me to ask if I was ready to reorder. As my telephone contact went down the list, I said I did not want her company's brand of glucose meter control solution because I had problems with it (accuracy) and had spoken with the company's quality control department.  I asked for the meter manufacturer's brand of control solution but was told that the vendor only supplied its own brand and if I didn't want their (?defective?) brand, they wouldn't supply me with the control solution at all.

If you are diabetic, you know that frequent accurate testing and control of blood glucose prevents heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage, hypoglycemic coma and other serious injuries.  The control solution is an important element in informing you when your meter or testing strips are producing errors which may result in serious, expensive and preventable patient injury. 

Contrary to the company's promise, no one from their quality assurance department had given me additional information about their investigation of my complaint.  I guess that no one from the FDA reads my blog since I haven't heard from them, either.  Nor from the Inspector General's Office of Legal Counsel.

So, who is minding the store on quality and value for price of the products which the federal government is paying the vendor to supply to Medicare beneficiaries who are diabetic? 

If you have had similar problems with  vendors of Medicare-funded diabetic supplies, I strongly urge you to contact Medicare directly (see the link above).   Maybe if enough people call, someone will pay attention to be sure that the federal government, and its Medicare population, get the quality of diabetic test supplies they deserve and pay for.