Like I’ve mentioned before in other posts, type 1 diabetics HAVE to have insulin. There’s no other option. There’s no pill or lifestyle change, insulin must be injected into the body to stay alive. That being said…
1 in 4 type 1 diabetics ration their insulin because of costs.
25% of all people with type 1 diabetes so badly cannot afford the medication that keeps them alive that they allow themselves to be in significantly worse health just to stay alive. Hopefully, you can all see how this is a major problem. But that’s crazy, right? Surely it can’t be that expensive since it’s medication necessary for life? That’s what people always say when they find out how much my insulin is or why I find myself continuously in fights with our insurance company…. update. We don’t live in a country that really understands type 1 diabetes.
Insulin is a life-saving medication and the companies name the price and it can really be as much as they want because they know that people have to buy it to live.. twisted, right?
When I was in high school, if I tried to pick up my insulin by myself before I hit my deductible, I would be turned away or the pharmacist would make sure my mom knew how much my insulin was. So how much am I getting at?
Without insurance, insulin costs between $150-600 per vial. Personally, I am prescribed 3 vials per month. So if we do some quick math, that’s between $450-1800 per month and $5400-21600 per year. Of course, most insurances cover some of what you pay, but not all, and insurance has the power to tell you what insulin you have to use despite the fact that some people don’t respond to all insulins and respond differently to each one.
I personally have pretty decent insurance but you can imagine that those first couple of months are a HIT before hitting the deductible. Of course, my family hits our deductible pretty quickly, but even after, my insulin is a little over $100 per month. Can you see yet why people have to ration… even if they have insurance?
I also want to tell you about the two times I was told I could no longer use the insulin I was on. My Sophomore year in undergrad I got a call from my mom who was beside herself mad. She got a letter from our insurance company that they were no longer going to be covering Humalog and I would need to switch to Novalog. They included that there was a chance I would not be receptive to the new insulin or may react differently.. but they still made me “try” it… as if you can try on a shirt and decide if you like it or not. Eventually, we got it figured out and we made the adjustments to use Novalog.
The second time this happened was this past Spring. My endocrinologist has me on the new insulin, Fiasp. It’s more fast-acting than anything on the market. It’s going through FDA approval now so my doctor gave me a coupon card so that I can use Faisp for 2 years and it’s only $25 a month. Basically, the insurance covers some and the company picks up the rest except for $25. GAME. CHANGER. It’s amazing!! I went to the pharmacy to pick up my insulin and they ran it multiple times and kept telling me it was a little over $1k. I’m livid because I’m almost out of insulin and am leaving town for the weekend so I call my insurance who transfers me 4 times before getting me to a different company who manages their prescriptions to find out that they decided they were no longer covering Fiasp. No one told me. So I couldn’t call me endo for a Novalog prescription. I didn’t know what to do. They sent a case to the director and I also called her and left a message saying how much I loved FIASP and how many companies cover it, etc. I got a call a few days later that she had brought my case up and in a few weeks they were having an entire company wide meeting and because of my case, Fiasp was now a topic. A few weeks went by and I got the call. They were changing their policy back to cover Fiasp and I went to CVS ASAP.
This is just the insulin cost. Not including infusion sets, reservoirs, sensors, strips, prickers, and then the countless glucose tablets, gatorades, snacks, batteries, etc. that you randomly have to have. I’m SO BLESSED to have parents that are still able to support me financially with my diabetes, but I know there are so few people as lucky as I am. And that’s a problem. The ration leads to uncontrolled diabetes which leads to complications which leads to even more costs long run. So why do we punish those who cannot control or help that they have this disease? Why do we put people in a position to feel punished and like they can’t have good health?
I just feel like if there’s anything we should cover it should be the medication that saves lives, not just puts a bandaid on a poor lifestyle. Kids with type 1 diabetes shouldn’t risk their health for the rest of their lives because they can’t afford a disease they didn’t ask for.
No one chooses type 1 diabetes, so let’s not make them choose if they can live a healthy life or not.
Talk to you later,
HP