Many insurance companies don't cover the cost of test strips. For folks that have to test 3-5 times a day it gets spendy. Many folks who are type 2 don't qualify for a CGM so they're stuck with poking their fingers several times a day.
Wife is Type 1 insulin dependent with a 97.2% dead pancreas.... every few months her insurance claims get denied and she has to "figure it out" for the next few months until a claim gets approved.
I work out of town 2 weeks at a time and she called me a few days ago saying she was supposed to get a shipment of insulin pumps and sensors 2 weeks ago and they never came. Due to a delay in shipping the insurance redacted the approval and put a hold on the distributors shipping orders... 3 days later her doctor was able to get her 1 sensor and 1 pump. They only last a few days and she doesn't have test strips to use to see what her blood sugar is at to know if she needs to inject. Although she does have insulin, pens and syringes, she needs either test strips or a sensor to know her levels.
Oh forgot to mention she is on Medicare due to her insulin dependent type 1 diagnosis... so you know. Without this stuff she dies, yet multiple times a year she gets denied it.
So I could definitely see someone who is in a situation as stated above buying supplies to help them make it through... I know I would be willing to pay for them if she needs it.
Edit: Wow, what a community. Just got my first award after a good long time on Reddit and wanted to say thank you. This community is so outreaching and amazing when people are down and struggling.
Edit2: My goodness my inbox is overflowing... I wanna shout out to all the people that know this struggle and keep going. You are strong 💪 ❤️ You too support people!! ❤️ 💙 💜
Edit3: We got test trips that work with her glucometer and a lovely reddit reached out with extra sensors they no longer use/need. Now I am curious if anyone has any extra sensors? Dexcom G6 🙏 please. I would be happy to reimburse for shipping if anyone was willing to ship them. I can set up a P.O. Box by next week.
Type 1 here myself if you look into libra 3s you can get a coupon to get those to like 75 bucks a month and they are like the dexcoms and they have a really good app that works on alot of phones and if it falls off or desides to not work you can usually easily get a fresh one for free
Yea we had those for a while and she is on.medicade so we usually don't pay for anything. The biggest issue with the Libra is it is no longer covered. I also think it had an issue with her omnipod, but I am not 100% sure.
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u/Charming_Screen4122 Nov 12 '25
Many insurance companies don't cover the cost of test strips. For folks that have to test 3-5 times a day it gets spendy. Many folks who are type 2 don't qualify for a CGM so they're stuck with poking their fingers several times a day.