"11% of TuAnalyze users have no health insurance, and of these 64% report that cost issues get in the way of ideal diabetes management."
Ok, that's obviously a very US statement, but then, how many of us in the US have health insurance and feel that cost issues get in the way of our diabetes management? Maybe:
"89% of TuAnalyze users have health insurance, and of these 100% report that cost issues get in the way of ideal diabetes management."
Or am I feeling particular annoyed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon? (Who don't provide, in any way, my health insurance, yet are paid by my state to make health decisions for me.)
raises hand And I have pretty good insurance. I have copays and then coinsurance (10% of the bill I think?), deductibles, prettttty decent Rx covereage I think…BUT, my husband pays an arm & 2 legs each month for it. Then there’s the Flex spending acct, I think we set it at $1500 this year? It was gone by the end of May. My husband’s Rx’s total under $10 a month. That means mine average almost $300 a month. Kicker is, I can’t work since my car accident 3 years ago…so hubby’s holding down the fort. With a $2200/mo mortgage, money taken off the top of the paychecks for the flex spending and 401K & health insurance & dental & vision, a kid who’s growing like a weed & needs new sneakers & clothes what seems like every few months as well as who’s eating us out of house and home lol…it’s hard to scrounge up the money after the flex spending runs out. I rolled coins at the beginning of the month to be able to get my test strips (thank goodness for the Freestyle Promise program!!! 400 strips for $15!!!) & insulin, and we had to put the latest shipment of Pods on the credit card. I really think I would die without insurance. There’s no way I could afford even syringes & insulin & strips. I don’t know how those w/o insurance AND w/o jobs do it. I’d be screwed if anything happened to my hubby.
I don’t pay any attention to it but I get totally stressed out every month when the CGM sensors run low and then once a year there’s a bunch of basically stupid chores of calling the insurance and the doctor after the RX runs out to get them re-upped. I always make sure to ask every Blue Cross person “did they cure diabetes recently?”.
I would also be screwed without MrsAcidRock’s benefits.
I have never had any problems with my insurance, although I am a year and a half away from Medicare, and the situation may change. BUT I am well aware of how many people do have problems, if they have insurance at all. Even though I am not rich by anyone’s standards, I would be perfectly willing to pay more taxes if my money went to help people cover their health needs. It’s the wars to protect oil billionaires, and the coddling of the wealthy with tax cuts that bother me – and most people who are wealthy, but not billionaires, won’t admit it anyway. My heart goes out to all who are struggling.
Well, nearly $900 a month this year for two of us, next year will be higher.
Great strip coverage, fair doctor and pharmacy co-pay no CGMS or decent DME benefits.
Cannot afford the better HMO plan.
$500 deductible each, which we never meet or use up.
Blue Cross was quoting over 1200 a month and that was a few years back…
Add me to the roster. My health insurance is through my husband’s job & I’d be dead without it. Even with insurance, yes, cost issues are a hurdle to diabetes management. I postpone doctor’s appointments & the corresponding blood tests (co-pay for last was $178) to 5-6 months instead of the usual three. I have gastroparesis that requires lots of testing due to unpredictable digestion. I can’t get as many strips as needed. I use insulin way past 30 days because I use three different types, also because of gastroparesis.
I’m amazed how so many people can afford pumps & CGMs with such expensive supplies. MDI is all we can afford, not that I want a pump.
Mine is also BC/BS also through state insurance.
My husband figured that he can’t retire until he’s 70 in order for Medicare to kick for me (if there’s even Medicare by then). That made me feel very sad & guilty.
I've always had health insurance while in the US, but I in the last 10 years while I've been on individual health insurance I've still made many decisions based on cost - the cost of things not covered by the health insurance. Trutthfully, I've never had any real problems with my insurance, but then I could always afford to pay for what wasn't covered. Nevertheless cost is a clear factor, simply because the health insurance only covers certain things and (for most of those 10 years) doesn't cover anything 100%.
I think to some extent I'm paranoid, based on almost 40 years of diabetes, and to some extent I react before the problem gets life threatening, based on 40 years of diabetes.
I do get totally stressed if I can't measure my blood sugar. I mean really, totally, irrationally (except I think it is rational) stressed out. It's almost as a much an out-of-control feeling as a seriously low blood sugar, except that I can do something about it, sometimes.
I've never been in the situation where I can't buy the things I have to have (or, well, I think I have to have) except for the one occasion when my local pharmacy was closed and I was out of test strips (darned blackberry festival - well - you know, rural US and driving 26 miles on an unknown blood sugar is not something I want to do...)
I can, perhaps, imagine the stress of running out of test strips as the end of the month neared, but it seems like a terrifying nightmare.
I can relate because I have a panic attack when I run out of strips. I stocked up on every few meter I could find to have strips when my allotment runs out. I’ve now used up all of those.
We all need access to enough supplies as well.
I told my Endo I needed extra insulin in the house in case of an earthquake or something.
And he said, that can never happen here…
Well, look at the United States today, and never say never…
So with insurance or without, not having something extra on hand becomes a very real fear.
Oh yes. That was a constant source of irritation to me in the UK, but the US system is easier to play. It turns out that US prescriptions have an ‘average’ for days of supply and the insurance companies then implement a ‘minimum’ before they will permit a refill. Your pharmacist will be more than happy to explain this to you in detail (well, the Walmart guys were with me.) You can easily find out the earliest date a refill is available; I found Walmart was only too happy to tell me the date and number of days.
So, I simply kept on asking for refills at the earliest possible date until I had an adequate supply. (This was a couple of years ago, after Congress stopped the tax deduction for prescription medication bought from Canada and my insurance company started paying 100%, as opposed to x% of an inflated US price.)
These days I maintain what I feel is an adequate supply - 3 to 6 months - simply by re-ordering whenever the stock gets too low. The lifetime on both insulin and test strips is well over that time period so there is no problem of things going out of date.
I did have the conversation with the insurance company guys where I pointed out that if I go on a 2 week vacation to the UK with a 1 week supply of insulin something might go wrong. The lady observed that I could get my doctor to prescribe an extra dose to cover this, at this point I gave up before even mentioning either earthquakes or blackberry festivals.
Oops: my wife just suggested my humalog supply was low, time to re-order.
You have a point. Last month my pharmacy called because it had been thirty days since my refill of strips.
I had been buying every maybe five weeks.
I decided from now on, better just keep buying every thirty days, since they will pay for that anyway.
I get lazy about going to the pharmacy, but I might as well.
The girl that worked there inquired if i hadnt been going through all my test strips every month.
If they are going to start asking questions, I am going to make them happy and get my refills when due
I’m in Canada and wish I had better coverage. In BC specifically, pumps are covered if you’re under 18, and i believe supplies are covered for everyone. I’m over 18 and not making enough money to afford spending thousands on a pump. I’m looking for a better job with a health plan so I can get a pump in the next year.
I know our health care here is pretty good compared to a lot of other people, but there’s more for improvement everywhere.
Absolutely refill EVERYTHING, even non-diabetic related medications as early as possible. My pharmacy/insurance allows me to order 5 days before the end of the month. and I have been doing that for years. One of the things that really upset me in the hospital last year was that I had my meds brought to me, so that I could go over them with the nurse (I was too fried to remember what I was taking), and they TOOK THEM AWAY! So I not only had to cover getting a new supply myself, but my stash was gone. So I’ve had to start to rebuild from scratch.
Seems like the rule-makers don’t know what it feels like to face death or possibly fatal withdrawal from life-saving medications – and you NEVER know when disaster may hit – it might be an earthquake, or it might be a fire in your house. I’m sure the VAST majority of us do not intend to sell meds and supplies on the black market – so the question is how much do you punish the law-abiding in order to MAYBE deter the criminals?
I dont have spare thyroid or BP meds, but I keep any leftover pills whenever they change my dose.
Insulin and strips, I had better just start getting every thirty days.
Especially with the pump company now cutting down on supplies, going to stock those up too.
I consider myself enormously lucky that I can answer (mostly) no to the question. I never made a lot of money in my career working mostly for non-profits. But I had a plan to work for five years for a County Behavioral Health department in rural California in order to get state retirement benefits including insurance (with no premium for me to pay) for the rest of my life. This plan came way before my D diagnosis. I haven’t been good at longterm goals throughout my life so this particular choice was absolutely brilliant in light of getting diagnosed with D a month before retirement! I would be lost without it. I’m on a fairly limited income (especially for the area I live in) but can manage my co-pays and costs. My meds are mostly between $10 and $25 for three months with two at $75 for three months (including my one touch strips for my meter/remote). I only pay 20% for tests, labs and pump supplies. For my pump I got that 20% written off due to my income level so it was free. Even with all this I am still going to switch in October from a PPO to an HMO plan, so that I have more “disposable” income (silly word!) and because I’m getting to an age where I have to think what would happen if I was ever hospitalized. Even at 20% that would be way beyond what I can afford.
So, in general, no, I don’t have to limit my diabetes care due to insurance. The only time I struggle is like now where logistics made me unable to order my pump supplies in a timely manner and I have 2 sets left until they arrive on Monday! I consider myself enormously lucky and my heart is out to those (in whatever countries) who have to limit their care due to cost, who don’t have access to quality care, or who have long wait times or other hoops to jump through to get what they need to live.
I feel really fortunate my husbands job we have BC/BS of VA and as a family we pay 130 every payday for our health insurance. BC/BS has always been excellent to me as far as coverage, but I also have a PPO insurance to which I love so Im not as forced by the health insurance company as to who I can see. If I do go out of network, which here almost every provider in the area participates with BC/BS its not really a problem. But yes, I certainly do think even with good insurance, the cost of diabetes definately can and does influence how well you manage it. There have been times where we have just been a 1 income family and even with really good coverage, I just went to the Dr ONLY when I absolutely HAD to. For the longest time I was out of work and just stayed on crappy 70/30 because 1 it was cheap and 2 I didnt need a prescription to get it like I do with Lantus, so I didn’t have to go to the Dr as often. Yes I know, lol BAD, BAD, BAD…but sometimes you know its bad, but you just feel you don’t have a whole lot of other options. Im not sure what the solution here is in the US but something has got to change, and I think it starts more with the pharmaceutical companys than anything. I was speaking to this one doctor not to long ago who has lived and practiced outside the US and he is just flabbergasted at how much the pharmaceutical companies up the prices here on medications. He was saying in other countries Lantus is very affordable. I mean its just sad here, you can buy a glucose monitor for almost next to nothing…but the damn strips which the monitor is useless without cost a FORTUNE, for something you use one time and toss out, but yet Dr’s want u testing MULTIPLE times. Luckily if you have good coverage most insurances will pick up the bill for that but even then sometimes there are limits to what or how much they will pay, and what about people who DONT have insurance or their coverage is pretty poor, what are they supposed to do?
So I not only had to cover getting a new supply myself, but my stash was gone. So I’ve had to start to rebuild from scratch.