How Much Does A Glucose Meter Cost?
Blood glucose meters vary tremendously. For those without insurance, a meter can cost between $8.99 and $1,150, but averages $20-$80. While all meters perform the same function, the cost depends primarily on the meter's extra features. According to the American Diabetes Association[1] the least expensive blood glucose meters often simply provide a digital display of the results. More expensive blood glucose meters can store several months of readings and can communicate with a computer so that the patient can download printable datasets to share with their physician. The most expensive blood glucose meter on the market is called the Accu-Chek Voicemate Blood Glucose Monitor[2] . This meter, which sells for just over $600 to more than $1,000, is designed for the visually impaired and offers a variety of features, including voiced instructions (which are also available in Spanish) and the ability to store numerous readings. Individuals with insurance will pay typical copays and coinsurance rates, which can range from $5 to 50 percent of the cost for the device. Blood glucose meters require the purchase of test strips, which a diabetic patient could use up to 12 times a day. Test strips are specific to the blood glucose meter and range in cost from $.35 each to $1 each, according to an article published in the Medical Laboratory Observer[3] . Individuals with insurance coverage for the test strip packages can expect to pay typical copays and coinsurance rates, which can range from $5 to $50. Lancets (small, thin needles used to puncture the skin) are required to test a patient's blood sugar, and cost between $5 and $22 per 100 lancets, depending upon the features.Some lancets have a setting for various depths of penetration. Others are thinner and sharper, which can mean l Continue reading >>
Diabetes Test Strips: How Much Do They Cost? 15 Cents Or $1.50 Each.
Summary: Diabetes test strips can cost a lot. We heard prices ranging from 15 cents a strip, to $9 for a box of 50 strips (18 cents each) up to $1.50 per strip. A little more than 60 cents a strip is not uncommon. The strips are used by diabetics to test their blood glucose. While sometimes strips are fully covered by insurance, quite often they are not, as we learned in our #PriceCheck project, crowdsourcing health care prices in California. People with diabetes wanted us to know that the high price of test strips quite often meant they were not able to consistently monitor their blood glucose. That was true both for uninsured people and insured people, who said their insurance policies often did not cover strips, or covered fewer than the doctor prescribed, or covered them with a hefty copay. The diabetes test strip price survey is part of our #PriceCheck project, crowdsourcing health care prices with our partners at KQED public radio in San Francisco and KPCC/Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Because they are not testing their blood glucose, some people told us, they felt that they were guessing on treatment — and therefore were more likely to encounter the serious complications that diabetes can bring, like cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, kidney disease, eye damage (including blindness), foot damage (including amputation), skin conditions, hearing impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Diabetes relates to the way your body uses blood sugar or glucose. If you have diabetes, either Type 1 or Type 2, you have too much glucose in your blood, and that can lead to these complications. (Here’s a great Mayo Clinic discussion of diabetes.) Diabetics commonly measure their blood glucose leve Continue reading >>
What Meter Has The Cheapest Test Strips?
Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please,join our community todayto contribute and support the site. This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. My online drug store which is Caremark told me my meter has high price strips that cost me for testing me three times a day and ninety days would be $240.00. My meter is Contour. From what I've found it appears that the Wal-Mart ReliOn brand strips are the least expensive at about $43.00 per 100 strips. Yes, I would also say that the Walmart "ReliOn" brand is the best value. My insurance covers my strips and I use One Touch, but I do have a ReliOn meter and strips I bought to just have on hand at my parents' house. I keep One Touch Ultra 2 meters at home and my office and a One Touch Mini in my purse. I compared the ReliOn meter to one of my One Touch meters and they were both in agreement. Diabetic Supplies Online - Diabetes Testing Supplies - American Diabetes Wholesale The only one I've used on here is the prodigy, and it has given results close to my onetouch ultra. Home Aide Diagnostics Easy Check: 13.79 for 50 I had a ReliOn as a backup meter a few years ago. It worked fine. The meter was very resonable and the strips were also. I have Caremark for my prescriptions too. My copay for 90 days worth of one touch is almost 100, I found out that if I use the durable medical part of my regular insurance , the same one I get my pump supplies thru, that I pay less for strips thru the DME benifits . You might see if that is an option. What is the perferred meter and strips thru Caremark for you ? They should have a better copay than the Contour also. I know that this thread is already 3 years old, but I just wanted to let everyone know that the information contained within it is still valuable. Continue reading >>
The Murky World Of Secondhand Diabetic Test Strips
Chelsea Arnold was getting into debt over tiny pieces of plastic: diabetic test strips. When Arnold was first diagnosed with diabetes she needed to test her blood sugar 10 times a day. She went to Wal-Mart and found that one box, which contained only a five-day supply of test strips, was $80. Arnold called her parents and told them she didn't know what to do. She didn't have the money. Arnold then did what a lot of people do when they need help: She searched on Google. She typed in the words "cheap test strips," and Craigslist came up. She bought eight boxes for less than $100. At Wal-Mart, she would have paid $640. Arnold said, "it was like having a life sentence and then realizing that there's a cure." With this Google search, Arnold stumbled into an underground economy for diabetic supplies. It's a market that offers a lower-cost option for test strips, though it is hard for customers to know where the boxes come from. Some boxes may be repackaged and unsafe to use, and some boxes are sold by diabetics who are desperate for cash. But many of them come from people who have health insurance and have accumulated extra test strips. Trey falls into this category. (He asked us not to use his last name, because he fears retribution from his insurance company, even though he feels he hasn't broken any laws.) He moved from one type of blood sugar monitoring system to another type of monitoring system and ended up with 20 extra test strip boxes. At that point, Trey began researching. He said, "Obviously No. 1: Is it legal to be able to sell test strips?" Trey realized that it is legal, with a caveat. "It's kind of a gray market as long as you don't get them from Medicare and Medicaid," he said. Trey then found a local buyer on Craigslist. It starts to look a little seedy here. Continue reading >>
A 'gray Market' For Diabetes Supplies Highlights The Cost Of Care
When Tim Rushing turned 50 last year, his doctor called him in for a check-up. They did a physical, ran some tests, and found out that Rushing had Type 2 diabetes. “No surprises there,’ Rushing says. “Both my parents are Type 2 diabetics.” He knew from watching his parents that monitoring his blood sugar would be essential to managing the disease. What Rushing didn’t realize was how much that monitoring would cost. Turns out, it’s a lot. Depending on the type of diabetes, diabetics check their blood sugar anywhere from one to eight times a day. It’s a ritual they know well: prick your finger, draw a little blood and place it on a disposable plastic test strip that gets read by a meter. One test, one strip. America’s 21 million diabetics spend close to $4 billion dollars every year on test strips. Because of their price, though — a single strip can cost over $1 — an informal, “gray” market has emerged where diabetics like Rushing can buy the strips more cheaply, but without oversight from the Food and Drug Administration. A Fraction of the Price Rushing wanted to test frequently, hoping to manage his blood sugars that way. But his insurance only covered one test a day. Additional strips would cost him $1 each, cash. At the rate he used them, that would add up to $180 a month. “So I started looking online and found I could get a box of 50 test strips on Amazon for 12 bucks,” Rushing says. That comes out to about 25 cents a strip, a fraction of the price. “That’s what I’ve been doing ever since. I’ve never even filled my prescription,” he says. Rushing found a workaround to pay for his extra test strips. But even for diabetics who only check once a day, without insurance, costs can be prohibitive. Even if you just check once a day, for Continue reading >>
Where To Buy Cheap Diabetic Test Strips?
For people with diabetes, costs can add up. Items like test strips can put a dent in your budget. Some people are even tempted to skip buying these to save money. It’s a very bad idea to try to save money by skipping your test strips. Checking your blood sugar regularly allows you to manage your diabetes. This can prevent severe health problems down the road. Those health problems will cost you a lot of money (even if you have insurance). They will also cause you a lot of suffering. It’s very important to take care of your diabetes. Instead of skipping the test strips, you can find cheaper ways to get the supplies you need to take care of yourself. One easy way is to switch to using a generic meter and strips. Pharmacies like Walgreen’s, CVS, and Walmart offer their own meters and strips for a far cheaper price. These work just as well as brand-name devices. In fact, some generic strips may even work better than brand-name strips. The strips end up costing more than the meter over the long run. That means you should choose the meter with the cheapest strips, instead of choosing the cheapest meter. It may even pay off to buy a new meter, if it means you can switch to cheaper strips. If you’re paying too much for strips and choose to use a new meter, you can always sell your diabetic test strips for cash as long as you paid in full for them. Your local office of the American Diabetes Association is a good resource for finding cheap places to buy test strips. Check this link to find your local office, then call them or visit in person. If you have insurance, check which strips are covered before you buy. Health insurance might only cover brand-name strips. That could mean that the brand-name strips actually end up being cheaper than the generic ones, because you on Continue reading >>
Medicare Cost-cutting On Diabetes Test Strips Puts Lives At Risk, Study Finds
The research puts data behind long-simmering complaints from patients and clinicians about availability of diabetes test strips. A competitive bidding program designed to save Medicare money has instead put beneficiaries with diabetes in the hospital, driving up costs for both patients and taxpayers and causing the untimely death of some, according to a study published today in the journal Diabetes Care.1 Study authors called on CMS to halt bidding for diabetes test strips until the program’s flaws can be fixed, with one author saying that the rock bottom prices and lack of standards have left beneficiaries low-quality strips from “off shore” suppliers, which can give inaccurate results. Research by the National Minority Quality Forum puts data behind long-simmering complaints about the availability of diabetes test strips for Medicare patients, which have increased since CMS switched to a competitive bidding program for these critical supplies. Those who use insulin to regulate their diabetes use test strips monitor blood glucose levels several times a day, which help them decide how much insulin they need, to manage their diet, and to avoid episodes of hypoglycemia. CMS started the pilot in 9 test markets in 2011; after CMS declared it a success it was expanded nationwide in 2013. But the study published today reaches a shocking conclusion: armed with the same data available to CMS, the team found that the low reimbursement levels during the pilot program—which fell from $34 to $14 per vial—led to disruptions in supplies, causing some patients to monitor their blood sugar less frequently or not at all. “Based on our findings and employing the safety monitoring protocols commonly used to protect human subjects, we believe policymakers should immediately sus Continue reading >>
Blood Glucose Meter Program
Preferred Test Strips Ascensia and Abbott products are the preferred brands of test strips for all of our prescription drug programs. Both of these brands offer your patients simple and accurate test strips and monitoring systems. For Abbott monitors, the preferred test strips include FreeStyle®, FreeStyle Lite®, and Precision Xtra®. For Ascensia monitors, the preferred test strips include Contour®, Contour®NEXT, Breeze®2, Elite®, and Autodisc®. Prior Authorization Required If your patient chooses to use a test strip that is not FreeStyle, FreeStyle Lite, Precision Xtra, Contour, Contour®NEXT, Breeze 2, Elite, or Autodisc, you will need to complete a prior authorization form on your patient’s behalf. If the prior authorization is not approved, the non-preferred test strips will not be a covered pharmacy benefit for your patient, and he or she will be responsible for the entire cost of the test strips. If the request for the non-preferred test strips is approved, your patient will be charged the highest level of cost-sharing. Free Blood Glucose Meters Both Abbott and Ascensia blood glucose meters are available at no cost to our members. Below is a comparison chart of important features of the blood glucose meters and corresponding test strips. The preferred brands rank high in patient satisfaction and can be used in several test sites, as listed below. Abbott Diabetes Care Ascensia Diabetes Care Blood Glucose Meter FreeStyle FreeStyle Freedom Lite Precision Xtra Contour Breeze 2 Contour® Next One Contour® Next EZ Contour® Next Sample size (uL) 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.6 1.0 0.6 0.6 0.6 Test time 5 seconds 5 seconds 5 seconds 5 seconds 5 seconds 5 seconds 5 seconds 5 seconds Approved test sites Fingertip, hand, forearm, upper arm, thigh, calf Fingertip, hand, forearm, Continue reading >>
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Using Expired Test Strips: Ok Or Not?
Test strips, those tiny slips that our glucose meters use to transport a drop of blood to their reader, can be expensive. There are many brands of glucose meters, and generally each meter requires its own brand of test strips. Often, the meters are free, or at the very least, inexpensive. Of course, they require their own unique brand of strips, and that is where the money is made. The expense of testing strips, and the lack of insurance coverage for them, leads to thoughts of how to save money on them. For a well-controlled type 2 diabetic this might not be such a big deal, as testing might only be necessary once or twice a day. For type 1 diabetics, or those type 2s who struggle to maintain control, testing is likely needed many times a day. There have been several unofficial and anecdotal “experiments” done to see if it is possible to use expired strips and get accurate readings. A review of many of these web-published efforts has shown that the accuracy of the readings that come from using expired strips is, at best, a hit-or-miss result. Reusing strips has an even more dismal result, with few strips giving any reading at all on a second use, and virtually none giving an accurate reading. Tips for Keeping the Cost Down Rather than accepting a free or low-cost glucose meter and then being stuck with expensive test strips, shop the test strips first. There are low-cost or generic strips out there, and each brand will tell you which meters they are compatible with. A one-time meter purchase, no matter how expensive, can save you a great amount of money if the strips are less expensive. Know how many strips you need in a day, a week or a month. Buy accordingly. If you are testing your blood only twice each day, then you will need no more than 62 strips each month. I Continue reading >>
Can I Reuse Diabetic Test Strips?
Diabetic test strips are one of the biggest expenses in diabetes care. People who are on a fixed income need to watch every penny that they spend, and diabetic test strips can take a huge chunk out of their monthly income. Although those with type 2 diabetes that is under control may not need to test their glucose level more than once each day, other people need to use a test strip several times each day. It is a common question to ask whether these tiny strips can be reused. Many different techniques have been tried, and there are even YouTube videos of people attempting to do this. Unfortunately, they found that if you test your glucose level with a test strip that has already been used and again test it with a new strip, you are likely to get different results. It makes managing your diabetes much more difficult to do. Accuracy of Test Results Compromised It would be difficult to get a diabetic test strip in the condition that it could be reused and still provide an accurate blood sugar reading for you. Many people have tried, but with the low prices of generic or store brand test strips, there is no reason to even try to reuse them. Companies that manufacture test strips are not just telling consumers not to reuse the strips so that they can sell more of them. They know that they do not provide accurate results when reused. If you reuse a test strip and believe that your glucose level is okay, but your blood sugar is actually high, you could develop some of the dangerous side effects caused by diabetes. Nipro Diagnostics, maker of the Prestige Smart System, writes on their website a warning to never reuse test strips. The company also warns not to wipe them with water, alcohol, or any cleaner. They add not to try to remove blood and reuse because of the inaccurate r Continue reading >>
Discount Diabetic Supplies Online Store| Medical Supply Corner
Medical Supply Corner-#1 Diabetic Supplies Company Are you searching for a reliable discount diabetes store online? Do you want to buy top quality diabetic supplies online at the best price? Then Medical Supply Corner will prove to be your one stop shop solution. We are proud to be recognized as one of the largest and top rated medical supply companies in North America. At our online store, you will find discount diabetic supplies, diabetic testing supplies, skin care products and more at the best price. As one of the leading diabetic supplies company, we offer a large variety of diabetic products from top brands. Our main aim is to help businesses and consumers to make the right purchase by providing them the best quality diabetic testing supplies and discount diabetic supplies online. Medical Supply Corner is a reliable discount diabetes store online in North America that stocks tested and screened diabetes products like glucose test strips, log books, blood glucose monitoring systems and more. We also stock a wide variety of certified skin care products like acne, anti-aging, diabetic skin care and more. Hospitals, medical offices, medical supply groups, health care professionals and other consumers can buy the certified diabetic products at the best price from our online store. Our discount diabetes supplies online store stocks up only the registered pharmacy and genuine products. Enjoy buying discount diabetic supplies online at Medical Supply Corner! Continue reading >>
Our Tests Find Affordable Strips For Blood-glucose Meters
Giving blood for your job sounds a little extreme, but it's exactly what our panel of volunteer staffers did for our latest tests of 21 blood-glucose meters. For our tests, phlebotomists took blood from staffers with and without diabetes and compared multiple readings from the meters against those from our lab glucose analyzer. But there were some perks for the 15 panelists, including Angry Birds and SpongeBob bandages and Oreo cookies! Our tests found that most of the meters were quite accurate. The top nine models from our Ratings were all excellent. But the big news, especially if you pay for those expensive strips yourself, was that you can save a lot of money by opting for store brand meters from places like Target and Walmart. Some of our best blood-glucose meters also have convenient features like auto-strip coding and fast results. In addition to our accuracy and repeatability tests, we also used a panel of six staffers with diabetes who checked out the meters and told us how easy they were to use. One of the panelists, a type 1 diabetic, said a backlit screen, big memory and the ability to download your readings to a computer are all desirable features. He doesn't have a big memory on his current meter, so he has to write out a week's worth of readings before he goes to the doctor, which he says is tedious. He also mentioned a few other things he's learned over the last 20 years or so. Traveling this fall? He says to pack extras of everything, including lancing devices, lancets, test strips, and even an extra meter. He also checks his blood before he drives or exercises. "All diabetics who take insulin need to test their blood sugars, at the very least, one or two times a day in order to adjust dosage and avoid low blood sugar," says Marvin Lipman, M.D., our ch Continue reading >>
Inexpensive Urinalysis Test Strips To Screen For Diabetes In Developing Countries
Noncommunicable diseases, once considered endemic solely to industrialized nations, are increasingly affecting developing nations as well. In Sub-Saharan African countries like Sierra Leone, noncommunicable diseases account for 26% of all deaths; by 2030, this number is expected to surpass 50% [1] [2]. One particularly dangerous noncommunicable disease is diabetes. Worldwide, over four hundred million adults are currently living with diabetes [3], with three quarters of this population living in developing nations [4]. Additionally, communicable diseases like malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and dengue continue to be uniquely prominent in developing nations, leading to a double burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. Addressing a lack of accessibility and affordability are two of the most important components of combating the increasing prevalence of both communicable and noncommunicable diseases. To counter systemic limitations of poorly funded healthcare systems, Sierra Leone, along with many other developing nations, relies on the use of a civic healthcare structure utilizing community health workers (CHWs). CHWs are community members who serve as connectors between healthcare providers and patients in community settings [5]. Entrusted by their peers to communicate with outside health officials, CHWs are often the most effective distribution pathway of health information and services in rural as well as urban areas. By providing CHWs with affordable ways to screen patients for communicable and noncommunicable diseases, individuals with diseases like diabetes can be afforded earlier intervention in the disease process. Development of effective and inexpensive preventative disease screening methods for use in the developing world has thus become more important Continue reading >>
It’s Cheaper To Make Diabetes Test Strips Of Silk Than Of Paper In India
A finger prick, a drop of blood, a measure of glucose—this quick test helps people with diabetes keep their blood sugar levels from soaring too high or plunging too low. It usually involves a strip of paper or plastic, impregnated with an enzyme that helps convert sugar to an electric signal readable by a portable device. But in India, those strips are made of silk. This seemingly luxurious choice of material is actual practical and cost-effective. In parts of India, silk is abundant, explains Nsikan Akpan for NPR’s Goats and Soda blog, and the country has legions of weavers, skilled on working handlooms, who can make the test strips. A company called Achira Labs, based in Bangalore, came up with the idea. Akpan writes: The new silk strips for diabetics, which will roll out this year, give the same information as other types of glucose strips but are easier to manufacture. Plastic and paper strips are typically sprayed with enzymes that break down blood sugar into electricity. Then a machine has to embed electrodes in the material, so the electrical signals can be transmitted into the glucose meter. Achira’s silk sensors only require the spray. The coated threads can conduct the electrochemical signals. Silk strips will cost one-quarter to one-third of the price of paper or plastic, which are available now in boxes of 100 for 1,600 rupees ($25). Achira Labs also developed silk strips coated with antibodies to detect dangerous diarrhea-causing pathogens in diapers. The U.S. and other countries will still rely on the paper and plastic for diabetes strips: silk is just too expensive outside regions where it’s made. The innovation is just one example of how so-called developing countries can hit upon methods tailor-made to address local conditions. There’s not one Continue reading >>
Eight Tools And One Idea For Ultra-low-cost Diabetes Screening
Medical device company Miraculins is in the process of commercializing the Scout DS, a diabetes screening device that uses light to detect specific biomarkers in the skin [16]. Because this method is no more harmful than shining a flashlight at a patients arm, it has potential to avoid the risks, such as infection, inherent to invasive procedures. However, the device will need to undergo modifications to decrease the cost before it can be adopted in the developing world. A team of researchers from Ghent University in Belgium is investigating the use of fingernail clippings as an avenue of screening for diabetes noninvasively [17]. The group observed that the fingernails of patients with diabetes had significantly higher levels of a specific type of diabetes marker. Using fingernail clippings instead of blood avoids issues of safety and storage that complicate blood and urine based screening methods. All of these methods are promising alternatives that have the potential to be better-suited to the developing world than traditional blood glucose tests. The foundation of a health program: Community Health Workers One of the largest challenges to implementing wide-scale diabetes screening programs is reaching rural and underserved populations, who may live far from the nearest clinic or hospital. Many countries have established Community Health Worker (CHW) programs to improve access to care for these populations. CHW networks may be leveraged to deliver diabetes screening to people in rural areas. In addition, CHWs (most of whom work on a volunteer basis), may earn an income selling diabetes screening tests to community members. A financial incentive would not only provide motivation to conduct diabetes screenings but give CHWs more flexibility to continue their other hea Continue reading >>
