Type 2 - (8.3% A1c) Diagonsed in 2008 - I have always kept track of my diabetes expenses, medication, supplies, doctor visits and was soon unhapply with the totals. The totals I needed to change. Hello Ebay, Glycemic Index and pancreas friendly food. I am wondering what others spend each month.
$10 a month for 3 bottles Novolog (my copay)
$0 for 250 test strips (no copay)
$0 for pump supplies
…I obviously have amazing insurance. (Only a few more months of that, and then that insurance plan has to go bye-bye, sadly)
Copays to see dr. are also $10, but I don’t see a dr. every month - between endo and retinologist appts we’ll say I average $5/mo for dr. visits (after I’ve paid my deductible for the year…which again is super low…good-bye to that soon)
I also spend $10 a month on either juice boxes, glucose tablets, jelly beans or some combination of those three to handle hypos.
After my insurance changes I expect to be spending more like $3000 a year on diabetes (that will take some getting used to…)
I donit have to worry about medical visits that’s already paid for by the provincial health care system (OHIP here in Ontario) all I have to pay for is everything else
I’m on insulin so that’s costly in its own right regardless of dosage since each time you open a vial its only good up to 28 days and I’m on two types Lantus and Humalog
Lantus runs me about 218 without insurance a month
Humalog about 60 without insurance a month
actual supplies
200 test strips is about 158 a month
200 Insulin needles is about 66 a month
200 Lancets is about 10 a month
- so total each month is 512 (all before tax) so its not outrageous in general but its still steep.
Nothing for the endo appointments every six weeks. The provincial health insurance pays for that. The test strips are about $95 for 100 but my insurance pays most of it. I pay $6. I might go through 100-200 a month or less depending on how diligent I am. I rarely change my lancet so I expect the pack of 100 to last me 50 years. I’m on Glumetza which costs $81.54 for just over a month but I pay $14.36. Thankfully I have pretty good extended health insurance through my work. Total for supplies and meds: $20-$30.
I don’t even want to think about how much I spend. We have high deductible HSA insurance so we pay everything out of pocket until we hit our $6000 deductible.
Office Visit $90
Contour Strips from Amazon $54 for 100, I guess I use between 120-150 per month
Food - I order most of my supplies from Netrition. Walden Farms syrups and jams, Erythito, Xyitol, Stevia, Almond Meal, Coconut Flour, Coconut Oil, Flaxseed, GG Brancrips Crackers
Proably about $100 a month. I also buy the best quality free range meat and organic eggs which cost me a lot each week.
This is an expensive disease. But by eating right I have lowered HbA1c to 5.3