Apologies in advance because I know you all get these posts several times a month but I’m in need of some advice and finally registered after years of reading posts on here. Anyway, to make a long story short, my new job has a high deductible health care plan and I’ve just found that for insulin and strips alone, I would have to pay about $1100 a month (never mind pump supplies). I’m on Humalog for the pump and had been using freestyle until I got switched by my last plan to one touch. I’ve tried searching around here but it is totally overwhelming. There was mention of Livongo for strips maybe? I’m looking for ideas. I’ve got enough insulin and pump supplies to get through maybe 2 months so I’ve got a little time to figure that out, but I’m already struggling with the strips. I’m using ReliOn because of the price but even that is going to be a huge stretch compared to what I was paying. Can anyone offer some advice or a success story? I’ve always found this place to be super useful and mostly calming so naturally this is where I came first, once the panic settled down. Thanks for any help!
-Tony
Hi Tony - any maximum on the out of pocket you pay? I’m no expert, but I think most HD plans have out of pocket maximum’s on what you pay and then you are covered either 100% or a small co-pay. Also check to see if your insulin pump supplies and strips are covered under durable medical equipment.
Good luck!!!
Hi Mike. Thanks the response. Our out of pocket max per person is $6200 with a total out of pocket max of $13000 for me and my kids (deductible is $5000). Obviously at some point in the year we will hit that but trying to figure out how to get through until then. I’m not sure yet on the pump supplies as DME but the strips are definitely not. I’m pretty tight with my pharmacist since I used to work for them and I had them run test claims for everything.
oh man that’s tough. Are you on Twitter? If so, maybe shoot a tweet to @askmanny Manny is SVP of Member Experience at Livongo. He also started TuDiabetes.org in 2007.
. . . slightly off topic, but we’re glad you finally joined. Welcome to the family. 
Yea it was sort of shocking. While dealing with UHC was never particularly great, it was never like this. I am on twitter. I’ll send him something and see if I can get a response. Thanks Mike and David.
As for the test strips, the least expensive I found while I wasn’t covered well by insurance was the CVS Pharmacy monitor and strips. They were even less expensive than the ReliOn brand, and pretty accurate.
Good luck to you, I hope you are able to work everything out.
welcome to tud, or what i call the club,.
& for the test strips, i will see about cvs monitor and strips, i ues there brand, & i like them,.
good luck, & hope everything get work out,.
Cheapest meter option I’ve found is the True2Go from Walgreens, which costs about $10 with ten strips, then get additional TrueTest strips via Amazon very cheaply. You can often get 100 for less than $20 with free shipping.
the TRUEResult , ones are not that bad, the strips are cheap, on Amazon, i can get 100 for $16.70 off Amazon,.
but the ones Shadow2, say are good to, i have never ues them,.
Thank you so much for all of the responses. I’ve seen the True2Go and I have a walgreens close by so I will probably try those. Now just searching for Humalog but at least I have a little more time to figure that out.
A few things that will help. First be sure you set up a section 125 plan with yur employer. This takes off the amount spent from your taxable income. This will save about 1/3 and applies to both prescription and some non prescription medications.
Second, keep the receipts of everything or better yet find a place to keep them for you. I pay a little more at CVS for this service. I use online pharmacies as well, between the two i can keep track of the annual spending, but the issue is to keep track in the first place.
Have you checked your plan to see if their are waivers for Diabetes? Many times there are hidden waivers. Be sure sure to ask for Durable Medical Equipment Waivers and Prescription waiver programs for diabetes. Sometimes insurance companies will not tell you about such programs. You have to know to ask for them. This is called the consumer responsibility according to the insurance company terms. Yeah, I have another term for it, but TuD is PG13.
I had no idea things like this even existed and I work in healthcare. Thanks for the reply. I will definitely be asking around now.
Hey Stoner I just thought of a question I should’ve asked earlier. In your experience, should I go through my employer to ask for this waiver or call the insurance company directly? The company in question is First Choice and the pharmacy plan is through Clear Script. My first impression of them was not good since I called to find out if they had mail order or any in-network pharmacy that might save me some money and they acted like they had never even heard of Humalog or a glucose meter before. Thanks again for all the advice.
I would just call the insurance company myself. And yes, you will find people who think you can pick up your supplies from your local Wally World. If you find the person on the line isn’t knowledgable on, politely thank them and ask for a supervisor. I would also encourage you to keep a log of who you talk to and time on the phone with call back numbers and extensions. Tell the supervisor that you are hoping there is a waiver program for type one diabetes because the supplies to take care of yourself is expensive, but one ICU visit for DKA is more expensive and you cannot imagine they would want that. Most on the line will not “get” type one diabetes.
I do find being extremely polite and relax while talking to these people makes a huge difference. Thank them for their time, thanking you for looking, blah blah…can make a huge difference in their attitude in helping you discover IF they have waivers.
I hope they do. Good Luck!
A little update and concern. So I ordered one of the True2Go meters and strips off of amazon. The strips were insanely cheaper than getting them at Walgreens. I got them yesterday and they are regularly testing 70-100 pts lower than my ReliOn meter was. I tested with control solution (group 1) and it was within range but I still have heavy doubts about which one to use. That is a substantial difference. Any thoughts? Also, I exchanged the one from Amazon and got another one late last night at walgreens and it is also testing 70-100 lower than my other meter, which is admittedly kind of a crappy one. Thanks again for any help and all the advice.