My copay for an ER visit is a lot higher than what I pay for many months worth of insulin. I could get about 6 months worth of insulin for one ER copay. Also, before I was diagnosed, an urgent care center sent me to the ER saying my blood sugar level was so high I was about to go into a coma. I went to the ER, one that is a highly regarded one in big city, and all they did was monitor me for most of the day, gave me an IV and monitored my heart, but said they do not treat high blood sugar so they gave me nothing to bring down my level. They sent me home at 2 am on a Saturday night with no instructions other than to get with a primary care doc, who I told them I did not have. They gave me no advice on how to eat or any advice whatsoever as to how to treat my high blood sugar. When I finally got into a doc, when she she saw my test results from the hospital, she said I was extremely close to being in DKA at the hospital, yet they didn’t give me insulin, never mentioned insulin and just sent me home. Had my husband not been one with type 2 who had an understanding of what not to eat in order to keep blood sugar levels down, I probably would have died before I could get into a doc, thanks to the ER at the major hospital here not treating high blood sugar levels and sending me home.
