my company at the first of the year changed insurance plans to a high deductible HSA plan. I am on the minimed insulin pump and so the cost has been killing me this year. I switched blood glucose meters to the Wal-Mart brand since the test strips are half the cost of the one touch. I am also looking into purchasing my novolog from Canada. Has anyone else done this with good success? Does anyone have any other ideas for cost savings? It is frustrating mostly because others in our small company don’t feel the effects of this new insurance plan–it is brutal paying for doctor visits, blood work/tests, eye exams, insulin, test strips, and pump supplies out of pocket.
I am not really sure on this one but we do have many from Canada here so hopefully one will see this post and give you some help.
Here is our Canadian Group
http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/canada
you don’t have to live in Canada to join it. Nel is a very helpful member from BC
It seems , that someone had similar question recently ? …I have contacted Marie B …" the wealth of information " Tu Gal !
I as a Canadian , don’t have information to help Matthew…I buy through my province’s Pharmacies .
Check out this discussion. Here is the link.
I don’t know about buying insulin from Canada if you live in the states, but I imagine you would need a perscription from a Canadian doc…
I can also tell you that our novorapid is just over $50 for 5 pen fills (before plan). and a vial of NR from diabetes depot is just under $30:
https://www.diabetesdepot.ca/estore/page,shop.browse/category_id,9/
ok, here’s a discussion about getting animal insulin from Canada that includes a link to a Canadian online pharmacy, courtesy of Scott Strumello, a well respected member here.
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/getting-animal-insulin-from
sorry to post again, but here is another helpful link
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/how-much-does-insulin-cost
I just need to say : TEAM work at it’s best from across the borders ; diabetes does not know borders !
…Matthew, all the best .
wow! Thanks to all who added some great information. This may seem like a crazy question but is Novorapid and Novolog and Humalog all the same basically? I have only used Humalog and Novolog up to this point as far as rapid acting insulin goes…
Thanks again everyone,
Matthew
NovoRapid - is the name for Novolog in Canada. Many people say that they have similar onset and duration action with Humalog versus Novolog (NovoRapid) - but everyone is different - YDMV (your diabetes may vary).
One caveat. If you have enough medical expenses to deduct them on your federal taxes, I am not sure you can use cost of drugs bought in Canada. I just heard this today from a friend who had been planning to buy her donut hole meds from an online Canada pharmacy. If you do decide to do it, there is at least one online drug company that allows you to fax your U.S. prescriptions instead of mailing them. That would be preferable for me but may not be an issue for you. If you mail them, be sure to keep a copy for your records and in case you need to answer questions about them. And I can’t guarantee what I said about fed taxes but it is worth checking first.
No, you just need your U.S. prescription(s).