Tips for Saving Money on Diabetes Medicine

The cruel reality is that diabetes is one of those diseases where medicine is mandatory, but the medicine is not cheap. It is a struggle for people to keep getting their diabetes medicine because it can get very expensive, especially newer medicine. Unlike many other diseases, there is no generic form of the medicine offered.

It is not unusual to feel scared while thinking about diabetes medicine. In fact, many people are nervous about how much one needs to rely on insulin in order to keep their health in check. For some patients, they may even risk death by not being on their medicine.

“The pharmaceutical companies are working with a captive audience,” P.J. Pugh,  certified diabetes educator and program director at The Chronic Disease Management Program at Baylor Community Care Clinics in Dallas said, “If you have Type 1 diabetes, you can’t go without insulin.”

This is not to say that there is no hope. There are ways to save on regular medication costs. Here are some strategies to help reduce some costs of the diabetes medicine patients with diabetes need. 

Thinking about diabetes medicine can make a person feel scared. This is not unusual. To save on regular medication costs there are several ways. These strategies are:

• Familiarize with the insurance plan- one should thoroughly investigate the formulary of their insurance plan. They should investigate the list of medications preferred by the insurance company. Thus for the medicine the company will provide more coverage and the cost can thus be lowered. For this it is suggested that you ask your doctor whether is it on your formulary. Many of the doctors try to keep up with the coverage covered by the insurance companies because they are aware of the high cost. People can also ask their for their own copy of formulary from the insurance companies. However people should be aware that there are lot of changes that happen in the insurance company. Hence be mindful of the changes and keep up on the formularies.

• Find generic medicines- according to David Weingard, under the federal law, for non-insulin treatments there are significant cost savings. In dodge ingredients and strength the name brand drug and generic drugs should be chemically identical. Generic brands are also effective. But some people have preferences. However if after having generic brand some side effects are experienced which the patient does not comfortable then inform the doctor.

• Speak up- many people avoid filling their medicines due to money concern whereas some are very honest to their doctor about the financial issues and how they find it difficult to get the medicines. The doctors are aware about prescription assistance program that he may suggest you. Some documents need to be submitted but you can save on your money. Moreover special discount programs might also be available and for the specified prescribed medicine card or coupon may be available. Some patients can receive insight about the availability of different programs by some certified diabetes educator available at the doctor’s office.

• Buying in bulk- one unexpected way to save money is buying medicine of 90 days instead of 30 days. However the co- pay may get lowered. Hence a person should be careful since some medicines after a period of time may go bad.

• Check for discounts-In America there is a wide spread occurrence of both types of diabetes. Hence dedicated to diabetes related disease there are lot of blogs and sites. Some of these may offer discount. Great sources of information are diabetes magazines, social media groups, blogs and websites.

• Buy abroad- if possible order medicines from other countries such as Canada. Especially for people who have very little health plan or coverage or deductible insurance plan is high, for them this option is especially popular.  Although more affordable but this option is very risky. There is a possibility of receiving fake drugs.

These means are viable and have proven to obtain the medication at a low cost. By participating in dangerous ways to save the money the person should not risk his life and should not avoid the dose or split pills that are not supposed to or skip pills.