The cost of insulin is not the only expense diabetics face. I have a Freestyle Libre Continuous Glucose monitor. Instead of finger sticks to put a drop of blood into a monitor, I have a sensor attached to my arm, and a reader that can read glucose levels by swiping the reader over the sensor as often as I want. When I was doing finger sticks, I was testing glucose approximately four times a day. Now that I have the CGM I test approximately 20 time a day. The improvement in my glucose control is significant.

I have Medicare and supplemental insurance, so my costs are all covered. If I didn't have insurance the uninsured cost of sensors used to be $350 every four weeks. Late last year the uninsured cost went up to $1074 every four weeks. This is just my most visible awareness of how badly healthcare in the United States is broken.