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Comment by westoncb | Hacker News Reader

Heh, was just wondering this at the pharmacy a couple of days ago... For one type of insulin I use (Lantus), it costs $400 for ~2.5 months worth, without insurance—which I happen to be without atm. Frustrating.

What's worse are the prices for 'test strips' for blood sugar monitors, though: about $120/mo for the cheapest kind, and insurance doesn't help much.

And what you really want is a continuous monitor, but they're over twice that last I checked.

And what you REALLY want is a glucose monitor/insulin dispenser feedback loop—or a new pancreas (speaking for Type 1's) :D —but those solutions obviously have their problems as well.

[/rant]

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If you're in need of cheap test strips- get the Wal-Mart brand meter and strips. The strips are something like $9 for 50, instead of the $1 per strip I'm used to paying even when I was on insurance.

I'm a type 1 and I use them, and they read pretty accurately with the CGM that I do shell out for.

I'm also a type 1 and highly recommend the Walmart Reli-On test strips. Cost savings on those is amazing. I do have the Reli-On meter and they work great together.

Wow, that sounds like a great deal. I'd been using True Test and True Track, from Kroger dealers and Walgreens. There isn't a Walmart anywhere near me (downtown Boston), but I'll see if I can get 'em online.

The store-brand meters and strips are usually a great deal if you don't have insurance, but the catch-22 is that most Rx insurance won't pay for the generic strips, just the name-brand ones.

From this side of the Atlantic, or really probably from any country that has some form of assured health care, the notion that you could have to go without insulin in the states is... baffling. Utterly baffling. Best of luck with it!

It's baffling to a lot of us on this side as well...

Every state, as far as I know, has some kind of program to make sure no one has to go without.

The trouble is not paying for it, there is help, the trouble is they make it a huge pain, with annoying paperwork.

It's embarrassing. For years a lot of Americans just hoped they didn't get sick. Obamacare has helped, but people are falling through the cracks. Insurance companies took advantage of the bill, and raised rates to the point where some/many unemployed people can't afford private insurance, or qualify for medi-cal.

(To all the Obama naysayers--he tried. By the time Republicans got through scaring people, he needed to include private insurance companies, just to get something passed. And something is still better than what we had before--Nothing!

No insurance--own house--get sick--go to hospital--get jacked up bill--can't afford to pay--hospital lawyers eventually receive judgement on lawsuit--eventually attach home--quietly evict you! This scenario is still possible.

I hear about these earnest individuals(without assets) and refusing to declare bankruptcy still struggling to pay off their medical bills. Go ahead, but just know the rates they charge you were padded, and you are paying the highest rates they can charge you? Even if you pay cash, and they half the bill(antidotal stories I have heard on the fact machine) you are still paying way more than anyone with collective bargaining agreements(Insurance companies). Don't be a hero? It's a rigged system.

Yes--I have a bit of anger towards the medical system.

"To all the Obama naysayers--he tried. By the time Republicans got through scaring people, he needed to include private insurance companies, just to get something passed. And something is still better than what we had before--Nothing!"

That's an...interesting...spin.

The Democrats had the votes to pass any bill they wanted.

They passed that one.

Sorry, you don't get to blame it on "Republicans".

"The Democrats had the votes to pass any bill they wanted."

Do you honestly believe Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh (among many others) would vote for any bill Obama wanted? That's not factually true, so I'm wondering why you believe it.

Those people aren't "Republicans".

I also noticed the attempt to change what I actually said -- "any bill they wanted" to "any bill Obama wanted", which I didn't say.

They had a majority in both Houses and could thus have passed any bill they, collectively, wanted (in fact they did it without a single Republican vote, and without allowing any amendments or even very much debate).

They passed that bill. Obama then signed that bill. That, my friend, is factually correct.

Why this desperate attempt to make it somehow the fault of "Republicans"? How about taking some responsibility?

> Why this desperate attempt to make it somehow the fault of "Republicans"?

They're the ones trying to make something created by the Heritage Foundation seem "Socialist".

Not actually relevant. They're still not the ones who wrote, passed, and signed the bill. The Democrats did.

It's entirely relevant as long as it's part of America's political discourse.

Why won't the GOP take responsibility for what its behaviors are doing?

Did you think modding this down would somehow magically turn Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh into "Republicans"?

I'm really curious.

Are these people Democrats who would not vote as instructed by the party leader or something? Pardon my ignorance, I'm from the UK where MPs who do not vote as instructed by the whips (enforcers) have the whip withdrawn (are expelled from the party).

Yes. They have already proven they will. The Democrat party had a much tighter reign on its people in 2008 through 2010. The simple matter was, you vote along the party line or we will not support your reelection nor will you serve on any committee of consequence.

The Republican party is a bit more fractured, which is how all political parties should be. People should be scared of a political party where dissent is heavily punished and nearly absent. The reason is because it expressly puts the party before the people.

Fortunately the voters have three times shown the error of that thinking and the resulting control of Congress is the result. As for the office of the Presidency, politics of identity (race/sex/etc) has become the norm and unless the Republicans participate in that type electioneering they won't get into the White House.

Insurance companies took advantage of the bill, and raised rates to the point where some/many unemployed people can't afford private insurance, or qualify for medi-cal.

I think you are very mistaken. The ACA added additional regulations that limit insurance company profitability (80% rule). The reason rates went up is because the legislation demands insurers provide more (coverage of children up to 26, caps on out of pocket, no pre-existing condition limitation). I'm not saying they were bad ideas, but anyone in their right mind knew that would increase costs not lower them.

This adds nothing to the conversation and is just used to start a flame war about health care.

Flame war? I doubt there can be much of a flame war when just about everybody agrees.

Health care US style is enough of a barrier to contracting and start-ups that it seems a pretty reasonable topic for a site focused on exactly those groups of people.

We are talking in a thread about insulin costs and generics.

Trying not to mention how things are funded is a bit like Basil Fawlty trying not to mention the war.

Are you without insurance because of income or a "qualifying event" like losing a job? If so, you should look at Commonwealth Connector (re: income) or the ACA options (if you had insurance that went away). Even a very cheap plan may end up including prescription coverage that includes those test strips (disclaimer: the only person using test strips whose finances I know anything about is on Medicare, which covers almost all of the cost).

I quit my job, having some limited savings, in order to finish a project I'm working on (+ other reasons). So I probably won't qualify. I may look into it a little more, but my estimate at this point is that putting the time into figuring it out will likely cost more than just paying for it. I'll have insurance again within half a year.

Thanks for the tips though, I'll at least stash the names of those programs away just in case.

I'm pretty sure leaving a job, even on your own accord, is a qualifying event that you can use to get subsidized healthcare. You should definitely look into what option are available.

I would recommend calling and ask to see if you qualify for anything. Never assume you don't. You never know.

It practically cost you nothing to call and see.

Yeah, probably not a bad idea.

Quitting your job is a qualifying event. You definitely qualify. I was looking at Obamacare because I want to start a startup. I considered signing up by February and just have two insurances for a while rather than go without health insurance (since I graduate from my PhD program mid year, and would then lose my health insurance in August). But I researched this just in case, and turns out that's wildly unnecessary, and the system is set up for things like this.

Voila, if you had insurance through a job, school, whatever, and lose it at any time due to a job change (whether quitting, or firing, or whatever), that's a qualifying event that allows you to sign up for new insurance within XYZ days of the event.

Hmmm... the XYZ days part could be a problem. I'll look into it, though—thanks!

Your resumé says you live in a state that expanded medicaid. Eligibility is now entirely income-based, NOT asset-based. If your current income is below the cutoff, you qualify for medicaid, period, end of story.

Interesting—thanks for the tip!

Try buying insulin online from abroad. Looks like 1 pen costs less than $1 in India.

For a while there was an insulin-smuggling system organised on Compuserve to get bovine insulin into the US.

Some people with diabetes said that human insulin didn't give them the same hypo warning signs; bovine insulin wasn't available in the US and import was banned under BSE beef bans.

How much Lantus do you use? In Poland I was paying around $100 for 5 pens, in UK not much more (without insurance). Test strips (Accu-Chek) arround $15 for 50.

I use 20 units daily. I believe the units are 1/5 mL each. That's definitely a better price than I can get here—although I did just find out I can do the old jar/syringe thing for $267! Ugh.

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