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Apparently, there's a vast gray market in unused diabetic test strips
By adamg on Sun, 09/13/2015 - 1:05pm
At least, based on the zillions of little yellow signs advertising "CASH" for unused test strips that sprouted overnight in West Roxbury, Roslindale and Jamaica Plain.
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Comments
I just saw a few of these in
I just saw a few of these in Dorchester as well, and put to the trash the two that had sprouted near my house. I was equally curious about this business model, looked it up, and found the following: "Medicare and Medicaid subsidize more than $1 billion worth of test strip purchases, but at least $200 million is “unaccounted for,” says Dimond."
http://www.everydayhealth.com/diabetes/0313/black-market-in-diabetic-tes...
That $1B was from a 2012 article
Diabetes has only grown in numbers since then! Its ridiculous what makers charge for those test strips, so of course, there is money to be made off taxpayers getting billed for them.
Not really a new thing.
Not really a new thing. Programs supply patients monthly with much more than what they require and they accumulate a vast number of them which they then sell. Ads have been all over for years. The obvious question is why are'nt care providers using the systems that don't require test strips ?
Which (reliable and accurate)
Which (reliable and accurate) systems don't require test strips?
there are not any reliable
there are not any reliable and available systems for blood sugar monitoring that don't require test strips. even cgms require double checking with test strips because the margin of error is so high and they may not be showing results in real time.
diabetes management proposals call for, and insurance companies pay for, far fewer test strips than what people need to really manage effectively and prevent serious complications for longer. with more use of test strips, as part of better management protocols overall, outcomes for diabetes can be radically improved from where they are now.
people sell their test strips because they need the money for something else more than they need the test strips. diabetes is expensive. people sell their test strips because they can buy more of the store brand ones for the price they can get for the ones their insurance paid for. they do this because they need more strips. sometimes people don't realize how much more accurate the name brand, more expensive test strips are. sometimes people sell their test strips because they and/or their doctor don't think they need that many. a lot of people diabetes and people in the medical community accept worse outcomes and a lower quality of life as unavoidable even when that's not true. also, people steal test strips to sell them.
it's not that simple.
Don't even get me started.
My insurance company has whittled me down to like one or two test strips a day. A month's worth of insulin costs me $500 out of pocket until my deductible kicks in. Needles? Forget about it. I can make one last about four days. Eye exams, A1C tests...each set me back about $400-500. It's not enough to have to deal with a shitty chronic disease--they don't want to cover the cost of managing it. And before some asshole chimes in about how I should cut back on the Snicker's bars, I have Type 1. Not to mention that Type 2 is no picnic either and not always controllable through diet and exercise.
All this to say that yeah, I saw that sign on my corner this morning and rolled my eyes. If anyone has any extra One Touch test strips lying around, feel free to share.
Type 2 has a familial component, too
It isn't just Type I that runs in families. I had a colleague whose father developed Type 2 in his 30s. So she was very careful ... and developed Type 2 in her 30s. She was fit and of normal weight and ate carefully and then found it odd that she now had to carry some candy around.
Sometimes you win the gene lottery, sometimes you lose.
In case anyone wonders why there didn't used to be a problem with this, I'll just add that Sally is probably in the first generation of Type I diabetics where people reliably make it into middle age. Seriously.
Who you callin' middle aged?
Just kidding--I am totally middle-aged and yeah, have had this thing since my early twenties. No complications yet. No diabetes in my family at all except for an uncle by marriage who was happily an outlier and lived with it well into his eighties. But it is a bitch to manage and, increasingly, to pay for so I find myself on a constant slow burn about it.
Dudley Square also
I threw away the one I found.
Please trash these signs when
Please trash these signs when you see them. They littered gallivan blvd including in front of my house.
Expiration Date
Strips have expiration dates. While quite a way out sometimes anything over a few months old are questionable as to quality and accuracy. (Lucky to have an A1C at 5.6 thanks to testing and oral meds and diet).
There used to be a list server out there where people with extra and those in need would interact. Uncertain if it is still out there. It was on a private server. It was mostly for sharing info.