FreeStyle Libre 3 CGM now covered by Medicare

I didn’t quite get why Abbott, manufacturer of the Freestyle CGM, was trying to get approval from the FDA for its receiver. But now I do. Medicare would not cover the CGM without an accompanying receiver.

The receiver was approved in April, and Medicare has just agreed to cover the cost of Libre, I believe you can get either the Libre 2 or 3. I’m not going to compare them, but diaTribe did. But I have researched comparisons between Libre 3 and Dexcom’s G7, since I’m considering switching.

If you read my post recently, you know G7 and I got off to a bumpy start. It’s still not great, but maybe better. I still get too many ‘lost signal’ windows, including always when I first wake up and retrieve my phone from where I store it overnight. Yes, that’s another story, but mainly I don’t want to wake up throughout the night to alerts from compression lows.

I do appreciate the 12 hour window Dexcom offers at the end of a session so I can pop a new one on and have it start running in the background so by time I switch my session over to the new sensor, I get more like 12 wonky hours on it rather than 24.

In a nutshell these two devices today are not all that different. Both the Dexcom G7 and Libre 3 are small, similarly accurate, insert similarly, have customizable alerts, and while Abbott had to get a receiver approved, you can use both on your phone with their apps.

The major differences are Libre 3 is 14 day wear, Dexcom 10 and a half, Libre 3 has 33 feet of range, Dexcom 20, Libre 3 is cheaper, but Dexcom has more functionality on its app and is actively working toward being operational with Omnipod and Tandem pumps. Truthfully, I think it’s more a matter of personal choice and what features are important to you.

Here are two comparison reviews. The first from DiabetesDaily and the video from TypeOneTalks:

Dexcom G7 or FreeStyle Libre 3? We Tried Them Both!