No health insurance makes it difficult.
I order my Humalog from Canada. Get discount infusion sets and strips.
I struggle with the rest of my bills, getting “healthy” food etc etc.
It sucks.
Big Time.
“Keep on keeping on. I’m blessed to be able to handle what I’ve been given. :)”
Exactly.
We do what we have to with what we have within our means…
hahaaa! that’s funny! I wasted a strip the other day due to small sample size. I thought the same thing…$1.00 down the drain. 
I’ve had diabetes for 26 years, and am finally about ready to switch from MDI to the pump. The additional cost of the pump has me very concerned. I’ve got insurance, but the pump, as well as the infusion sets & resevouirs are applied to my $3,000 deductible. I’m seriously hesitating. I’m doing ok on MDI, but want to tighten things up. This doesn’t seem like a wise time to take on additional expenses.
After reading all the answers, I am living in Australia and I must be the lucky person on this website. My meter cost me $79 AUDs, its cost me $7.50 for my strips a week and about $20 for my lancets which last me about 3 months. Now let me explain, I must admit I’m type 2 no meds no injections just diet and hard exercise work.
Between my blood preassure tablets and cholesterol tablets, they only cost $65 a month. By the way I don’t have medical insurance because we just cannot afford the $100 a month to pay for it anyway, but it doesn’t cover the chemist bill. The medical profession is ripping you guys off something cronic. I only pray that I don’t ever have to go on injections or pump.
A month I pay about $45 each for my insulin and test strips, so 90$ a month,Plus $25 every three months for endo visits.
My insurance covers all my pump supplies and I have a pretty decent co-pay. My father is still paying for whatever the insurance is because it is a company plan, he owns his own business and I work for him.
Diet . . . holy crap! Try a low carb kosher diet - you’re talking over $100 a week, easily, in meat! I could be making significant extra student loan payments, not be stressing rent . . . .
we were tight on money to begin with. I now had to cut my work hours because I have no one to watch my daughter. Then on top of everything is the added expense of insulin that you have to throw out most of a vial after 30 days. strips that you only get a limited amout covered by insurance. All the new Dr co-pays every month for now then every 3 months. It also seems the only diabetics that get somewhat of a break are seniors… and they don’t get much of a break either.
Hahaha! You’re so funny! Sounds like boarding school for “grownups” who haven’t grown up. Would be fun to try it for a couple of days.
I have a gripe…What about the Pump SUPPLIES being classed as DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT not just supplies, When it comes time to pay for them they’re Durable Medical Equipment! What’s up with that ? I have Pretend Insurance just enough to get me in the door (Still paying on my pump). There needs to be a crusade started! Let me hear ya!
When Eric was first diagnosed, it was crushing. I dropped $1200 on supplies that first day we were home, and I was too shell-shocked to even think too hard about the fact that this was more than a month’s worth of groceries for my entire family. I got onto a couple of discount plans and the clinic sometimes gives us freebies, but it wasn’t enough–I had to take a large chunk of money out of my IRA, tax penalty or no tax penalty, because it was the only savings I had. I’ve also refinanced my mortgage to a significantly lower rate, which I probably would have done anyway, just because it’s smart, but the savings I got are not going into my savings account, they’re going to pay for Eric’s treatment costs. Eric’s insurance is high-deductable and covers only catastrophic care, so while it paid a significant portion of the hospital bill, it covered nothing, NOTHING of his supplies, which I’m not entirely sure is legal–I’m still working on that. I couldn’t put him onto my own policy at work until 8 months later (next month… thank God!)–and at that, I’m lucky because I live in Maine, where a person who has been insured for 12 months or more cannot be excluded for a pre-existing condition if that condition was covered under the previous policy. Eric’s endo wants him on the pump but we can’t afford it right now. I worry a great deal about money. I even wrote to the president and congressional delegation (you can see the letter here: www.holymolymorgans.com/id65.html)
Pam, I’m totally in agreement with you about the insulin. I often wish there was a network that could hook up diabetics using the same brand of insulin so that those of us with little guys who waste so damn much of it could give what we don’t use to people who use a lot of it. But in the meantime, the solution our endo came up with was to prescribe the vials used for insulin pens, which contain 3 mL per bottle rather than 10, but you can still stick a needle into the vial to extract what you need. For us, this means wasting 1 mL each month instead of 8. I don’t know that it will cost us any less but it sure makes us feel better about the waste.
partnership for prescription - helped me find free medicine through Lilly Cares and Sanofi Aventis:
https://www.pparx.org/Intro.php
anybody else use these programs?
You need your income tax/check stubs and a prescription from the doc
any endos out there that use a sliding scale?
local diabetes educators might hand out test strips, but they tend to give out alot and probably can’t keep up with a type 1’s daily test strip usage. The cheapest strips that i’ve seen or for the wavesense keynote or the relion brand at walmart.
I hope you guys can fill out the info for insulin, i think the other insulin guys might have similar deals. I get a four months supplies, and some times i wait till i actually use that up before i order more.
good luck
Dear Elizabeth,
I’m so sorry for what you and others have to go through financially and emotionally when you find out your family member has diabetes and what it costs to maintain health. I agree it’s not fair that you have to cash in your savings to pay for supplies, and what are you going to do for supplies until your son could earn money? Government SHOULD help. Afterall, type I just happens to some people and it couldn’t be prevented no matter what. I live in Canada so I’ve never known what it’s like to pay a doctor’s bill (save for the three times I saw a medical specialist in NY State – my decision) and I can’t imagine having to pay a premium for medical insurance. I used to gripe about paying my life insurance premium. We Canadians, for the most part, take universal health care for granted. Our system is going broke, though, and I’m sure it can be fixed through educating people to take better care of themselves. I believe what needs to be done is people should lobby the Obama government to make health care reforms. No one should lose their home or life savings due to an illness that couldn’t be prevented. Good thing Bush is out of office. Stem cell research should go ahead. It’s important to vote for the right person, and to persevere in pressuring government to help people in need. I wish I could vote to help you and others in similar situations. Good luck and keep us informed. By the way, you have a beautiful farm. Your children are truly blessed to have such a nice home!
Your friend,
Sugar Plum
Hey,
Stay away from soft drinks and sweets. Only have them as a treat now and then. That’s what my doctor and dietician says. Everytime I see my doctor, he says, “Stay skinny.” So that’s what I plan to do.
For a while when I was on some not so wonderful insurance, ordering Novolog from Canada was actually cheaper than paying my Rx copay! Novolog wasn’t on my plan’s formulary, which is why it was so much more, but I can’t take Humalog since it makes me itch really badly.
did you know that americans take bus trips to Canada to buy medications?
$7.50 a week for test strips? how often do you test? in Canada test strips are about $1.00 each!
good idea maybe I’ll look into that