Does Medicare Cover Lancets?

Medicare pays for different kinds of Durable Medical Equipment (DME) in different ways. Depending on the type of equipment:

• You may need to rent the equipment.
• You may need to buy the equipment.
• You may be able to choose whether to rent or buy the equipment.
• Some items become your property after you've made a certain number of rental payments.

Part B covers lancets and lancet holders as supplies used with Durable Medical Equipment (DME). The amount of supplies Part B covers varies. Every 3 months, you may be able to:

• Get up to 300 lancets, if you use insulin.
• Get 100 lancets, if you don't use insulin.

Part B covers medically necessary DME if your provider prescribes it for use in your home.

Make sure your doctors and DME suppliers are enrolled in Medicare and will accept assignment. Medicare will only pay for DME items if you get them from suppliers who are enrolled in Medicare. It’s also important to ask your suppliers if they participate in Medicare or will accept assignment of your claims before you get DME.

After you meet the Part B deductible, you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount (if your supplier accepts assignment).

It's important to ask a supplier if they participate in Medicare or will accept assignment of your claims before you get DME. If a supplier participates in Medicare, they must accept assignment (which means, they can charge you only the coinsurance and Part B deductible for the Medicare-approved amount).

A non-participating provider doesn't have to accept assignment, but may choose to do so in your case. If a DME supplier doesn't participate in Medicare or won't accept assignment, you may be charged more. For rented DME, make sure the supplier is willing to accept assignment for all rental months, otherwise you'll have to pay the full cost of your DME upfront. If this happens, Medicare will pay you later for the amount it covers after your claims have been submitted and processed by Medicare.