The Cost of Diabetes

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1

I am sure most of you read this title and think oh this poor girl, did she lose a toe, begin having diabetes complications. No, when I say costs of diabetes I literally mean the amount of money it takes to take care of my diabetes. It is insane! The only time I honestly get pissed off at my diabetes is when I go to the pharmacy for my prescriptions.

Before I got married I had my parents insurance. It was pretty much $25 for my prescription, maybe $30. Now that I am married I have my husband insurance, which in my opinion is way better coverage. I mean we have a low deductible that takes only two doctors visits to meet, and we are covered at 90% after that. It's a great plan and hey, in this economy I am beyond thankful to even have health insurance. But when a prescription costs double the amount I used to pay I get a little cranky and want to punch my pancreas in the face (not that it would matter because it doesn't work anyways).

I wish that insurance companies would give diabetics a break. I mean they definitely have some great offers for people with diabetes, but unless your company pays for those incentives your pretty much out of luck. The thing is, diabetes is everywhere these days, its the new happening disease. Yet, in most work places it's rare you will find an insulin dependent diabetic, so of course a company would think something like that would not be beneficial. I understand completely, but can I still complain?

I know this is me ranting and not really a helpful insight into the world of diabetes. But it is an issue. A frustrating issue at that. If it's frustrating for people with insurance, I cannot imagine what it must be like for people without.

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2

No my thought was money too and the costs

3

CHeck with your insureance company. Mine, for instance, does not cover products from Lili. I have to use insulin from Nova Nordsk. If I chose to use Lili (Humilin) my co-pay doubles.

Just something some insureance companies do.

Oh...and they have switched twice in the last 4 years.

4

Diabetes hasn't always been such big business. When I was dxed and insurance didn't cover dr. visits or insulin. Insulin at that time was $1.98to $2.00...we've come a long way baby.

5

Another Day, Another Battle
^ a magazine article published about this same topic. I hear what you're saying. I am now paying $70 per month for my basal insulin on my husband's insurance, versus $25 per month for the same scrip on my previous insurance. It's annoying, but the same scrip would be close to $600 per month without insurance, so I try not to get too frustrated. haha. It could be worse.

Some day, this will all come back to us. Karma, baby.

6

Having health insurance is a tremendous help in covering the costs of diabetes. My insurance changed recently and my co-pays went up. So I went to the local warehouse membership store to see if my testing supplies would be cheaper. OMG! Test strips cost $1.25 EACH! I was stunned. Now I have a much better appreciation of what people are talking about when they grumble about the high cost of diabetes. I'm staying with my HMO's pharmacy. my co-pay is way lower that going off plan.

7

Get citizenship in Ireland ,diabetic medicine is FREE :)