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Living well with type 1 diabetes requires a lot more than a healthy diet and regular exercise.
Type 1 diabetes is a type of autoimmune diabetes that prevents a person from producing insulin, the hormone of all mammals.
A person with the disease should have quarterly appointments with various blood tests to badess whether their medications should be adjusted and whether overall blood levels are in the safest range possible.
They also need a large amount of insulin and medical technology to save lives
Paying for this technology and this treatment out of their pocket would be next to impossible for them.
A study published in the July issue of Health Canada. from the University of Michigan discovered that 1 in 4 adults with type 1 diabetes experienced a minimum of 30 days during which they did not have health insurance coverage.
More importantly, ave the cost of diabetes
The cost of insulin and test strips alone costing nearly $ 1,000 for a month of supply, 30 days without insurance can be devastating financially.
The study reports that people with type 1 diabetes with an insurance coverage of more than 30 days are five times more likely to travel to the emergency room or to # 39; emergency.
If they live in poverty or in a low-income household, they can easily choose between paying their rent rather than buying more test strips or insulin for a month.
This decision leaves them no choice either to become homeless or put their lives in serious danger by taking less insulin than they need to make their bottle last longer. insulin longer.
State-of-the-art diabetes insulin pump treatment technology and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It allows people with type 1 diabetes to lead safer lives while maintaining blood glucose levels much closer to normal levels.
These items are, however, an almost impossible expense without insurance.
A new insulin pump costs $ 5,000 each out of pocket. It's more than $ 500 a month for continuous supplies.
Even a few months can be devastating
A coverage gap directly disrupts the overall stability of the patient's blood glucose and aggravates hemoglobin A1c levels. This measure indicates blood sugar levels over a period of two to three months, increasing their risk of developing complications over time, such as retinopathy or neuropathy.
Andrew Hair was found without insurance for a few months at 23 years old.
Before losing his medical coverage, he used the most basic methods to manage his type 1 diabetes. This included syringes, insulin and a basic blood glucose meter to test his blood sugar.
However, those few months without insurance were among the most stressful he's ever endured.
life, "said Hair at Healthline. "Fortunately, I was already subscribed to One Drop for my test strips."
One Drop is a revolutionary "disruption" in the world of diabetes and pharmacy technology. It was founded by Jeff Dachis, himself a diabetic.
One of the company's missions is to help people like hair by providing them with unlimited test strips for a monthly fee.
Prescriptions from a doctor or the approval of an insurance company
Without insurance, traditional test strips from a pharmacy would cost more than $ 1 by strip. The average patient uses four to eight test strips a day
Most insurance companies limit patients to four test strips a day, unless the doctor clearly explains the need for it. to do more in writing
. typically between $ 30 and $ 40 for this limited and predetermined number of strips per month.
A monthly subscription of $ 39.99 with One Drop means that Hair could order more strips at any time to use its One Drop Counter
.
While there are many patient badistance programs provided by pharmaceutical companies, they often depend on your total annual income, not on your temporary lack of income and coverage. insurance.
Getting immediate badistance is not what they are designed for. And becoming qualified for one of these programs is not a fast process.
"My personal insulin fees during those few months without insurance were close to $ 600 a month," says Hair. "And I'm lucky not to need as much insulin as a average diabetic man."
As Hair continued to look for a new job, her fear of being unable to get insulin got worse. He added stress, depression and anxiety to his daily life.
"I am grateful to be employed again today, but to be uninsured for a few months has given me a perspective that I did not have before," he said. -he says. . "I can not imagine how difficult it must be to manage diabetes without insurance for an even longer period."
Complications occur
Diabetes management may require other treatments and unexpected procedures.
"I had to shell out more than $ 8,000 in cataract surgery in 2008," said Ceara Ryan, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 40 years ago. When she was 8 years old
Although cataract surgery is generally not an emergent necessity, delaying surgery may temporarily worsen your vision and prevent your optometrist from treating other conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy.
Healthline that during her hole in the insurance cover, she had a stock of supplies to use in her insulin pump.
This helped her avoid having to go back to injections or pay over $ 1,000 a month to continue u singing her pump.
But she physically paid a price by trying to use every last drop of insulin in her pump.
"I would leave my pumping sites as long as possible," says Ryan.
Infusion pump insulin sites are located in the top layer of the skin where insulin is then delivered. They are meant to be worn for no more than three days, even if there are usually 30 or more insulin units in the tank when it needs to be replaced.
"I still had huge amounts of scar tissue all over Ryan
Still uninsured, Ryan said that she is now fighting to pay the medical bills that keep her alive.
The Good place, the right time
Others are able to endure a period without insurance thanks After being released from her job, Samantha Galvez knew that after the expiry of her business coverage, she was not allowed to pay for it. insurance, she would have access to insulin and test strips from a less traditional resource: the diabetes camp
Galvez, Today, 26 years old, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 13
and was a counselor in a diabetes camp during the period when she did not have health care
I knew that I would be given a lot of extra insul When camp finished, Galvez told Healthline [19659002] This simple resource probably saved her thousands of dollars and prevented her from having to "skimp" on her insulin and let her blood sugar rise to help make "For me, the hardest part of not having health insurance was to get my non-diabetic prescriptions and make appointments with diabetes specialists, "explains Galvez.
She sued Medicaid and was She was qualified for a while, but she found the process of approval convoluted and encountered many obstacles each time she was trying to get them. care she needed.
"I ended up paying hundreds of dollars for two drugs. made things so confusing, "she said." Fortunately, I knew I would be unemployed for only two months. Knowing that I would soon start work, with health insurance, was the only reason I did not completely lose the peace of my mind.
More than expected
The researchers in this latest study stated that they were not surprised that people with type 1 diabetes are so severely affected by a lack of "diabetes." health insurance.
"Type 1 diabetes requires intensive daily management in order to just stay alive, so interruptions of care and coverage of insulin and supplies can pose a major risk," said Mary. AM Rogers, Ph.D., a researcher from the University of Michigan Medical School who led the study, in a press release. "We expected coverage gaps to affect health, but the magnitude of the effect and the frequency of the gaps were striking."
Rogers attributes the frequency of these discrepancies to growing trend of the types of concerts in the short term. "Our study provides evidence of the fragmentation of care for adults with type 1 diabetes in the United States," Rogers said. "Such gaps in health care have been noticed for people entering and leaving Medicaid coverage, but we note that it also occurs in adults who have private health insurance." We know that continuity care is important for diabetic patients and that it is badociated with lower mortality. "
Rogers predicts that this problem will only worsen over time since the insurance coverage in the United States becomes a bigger problem … endless political debate.
"This problem will not go away," said Rogers. "If anything, fragmented care is likely to increase with projected trends . Yet, access to medical care is essential for the lives of people with type 1 diabetes. Providing access to medical services for people with chronic conditions is a problem that America does not have. Not yet completely solved. "
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