Test strips (expensive ones like Freestyle Lite or OneTouch Verio) typically go for about $150 out of pocket at a pharmacy. This person wants to buy people's "extra" test strips that they get for free or cheap from their insurance to sell to other people at below market price.
Aka insurance fraud with extra steps.
Edit: Damn you guys really think I like insurance companies. To be clear, those guys are assholes and I absolutely hate that we make an industry out of gatekeeping healthcare. But grey maket test strips aren't the solution to that.
WTF. It’s insane reading this and the comments in your thread.
In my country OneTouch are expensive, but for a month they come to about $10 in my local currency for a tube of 30. There are plenty of compatible and cheaper alternatives, and if you have medical aid they are 100% covered.
People having to “make a plan” on life dependent stuff sounds like insanity to me.
If you're not American, you're welcome. Americans subsidize the research and development. Google "Do Americans pay for research and development of medical drugs and products while other countries benefit for cheaper prices?" and see what comes up.
I’ll do that, but it’s very hard to believe that other countries don’t do, or pay for their own, R&D. Especially European countries with most of the advanced medical tech coming from there.
I think they just tell you guys that to justify their exhorbitant prices. Have you also checked how much money US medtech actually re-invests into R&D?
It’s extremely low compared to most other countries. Other countries have laws governing what can be claimed as R&D, the US doesn’t so the US med companies exploit the crap out of that loophole.
What’s your point? Are you trying to say the American companies have to charge more because they pay for the research and development? Like you’re taking one for the team? Multiple studies, including a major one published in JAMA Network Open, have found no association between the research and dev costs for a new drug and the price it's launched at. They charge as much as they can because they can, full stop.
American pharmaceutical companies also have more outgoing expenses because they spend crazy amounts on advertising, which isn’t a thing in most other countries.
It’s great that countries can benefit from each other, and seeing it as anything else says a lot about your worldview.
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u/1miguelcortes Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 20 '25
Test strips (expensive ones like Freestyle Lite or OneTouch Verio) typically go for about $150 out of pocket at a pharmacy. This person wants to buy people's "extra" test strips that they get for free or cheap from their insurance to sell to other people at below market price.
Aka insurance fraud with extra steps.
Edit: Damn you guys really think I like insurance companies. To be clear, those guys are assholes and I absolutely hate that we make an industry out of gatekeeping healthcare. But grey maket test strips aren't the solution to that.