I was accepted to graduate school which would mean leaving my employment where I have insurance coverage. The student insurance is awful and expensive! In fact the maximum benefit for prescription coverage is 1500.00 per year. What in the world does that even cover when you are a diabetic? One order of pump supplies maybe : ( I can not afford to cover the costs myself so I may just have to give up my grad school dream. Its seems so unfair and painful to have my life limited by diabetes.
If anyone has experienced this or has any ideas please please contact me. I am brokenhearted over this and I don’t even know what to do now.
I don’t think that pump supplies count as a “prescription”. I think that my previous insurance considered them to be “durable medical equipment”. So you should look into that.
If you only need it to cover the insulin, then 1500 may be enough.
Do you know whether you will have diabetes coverage right away? Or would you need to wait some time because it’s a pre-existing condition?
When I went to grad school, everyone spoke highly of the insurance, but fact was it didn’t cover squat. None of the endos in the plan were accepting new patients; there was a puny cap on coverage, etc. It was basically there to handle physical accidents etc., not chronic conditions. I would call around to docs who were outside the plan, but when they found out the name of the insurance company and that I was a poor grad student they refused to see me (even when I offered to pay out of pocket).
This was a few decades ago, back before all these fancy-pants genetic insulins, and insulin was not a big expense. This was the days of Chem-strips for bg testing, too, and I could cut them in halfs and quarters to get more tests.
I just toughed it out, paying for stuff out of pocket when insurance wouldn’t cover it, seeing a patchwork of non-endos and clinics trying to get some medical care and checkups, etc. My overall opinion of the medical insurance establishment was at an all time low, I came out of this period convinced that it was all a big scam.
Now I’ve got a job with real nice insurance, and guess what?, docs will see me again.
thats so frustrating…does your state have subsidized insurance? i would suggest yo go to DHHS and see if there are programs to help with stuff like this.
I realize that the worth grad school can be measured in more than just money. However, since Rose Joelle is worried about money, I wonder if your degree was worth it Tim - fiscally. Did the financial sacrifices you made pay off with the work you were able to get after your degree?
In my case, I went to graduate school when I was young and poor. At that time, it cost about $20K. I liked the types of jobs I was able to get better than what I’d had before, but the highest pay I ever made was $28K and not likely to go a lot higher, even if I devoted my life to it. Sure, it’s more than what I made before the degree, but not a great return on investment.
Something to consider is weighing the “should I or shouldn’t I” options.
I think I learned a lot of valuable stuff in grad school, I enjoyed the experience, and I think it was worthwhile by any measure.
What I did not do well, was making the transition from grad school to real world. I did a two year post-doc after grad school that was a complete professional and personal disaster. After that I stumbled a little bit then with some help from friends and family really did break into the “real world” and I get to use what I learned every day.
thanks to everyone who responded : ) I may or may not get something figured out but either way I am so thankful for the supportive community of TuDiabetes!
Yeah, this is disappointing, but don’t give up on your dream. People overcome all sorts of obstacles on their way and you’ll figure out a way. Scholarships, grants, loans, drug company plans, donations, friends, family, guts, determination. You may have to give up the pump and switch to MDI. Do what it takes. If it’s worth doing, you can get it done.
Terry