Cost of Diabetes Testing Supplies & Medical Assistance In General.
With over 26 million people who are diabetic in the United States(and growing), I wonder how difficult it will be to get the necessary health insurance coverage in the future(Studies show by 2020, 1 in 2 people will be diabetic). We all know Diabetes as well as many other diseases create billions if not trillions of dollars in revenue for the pharmaceutical companies but the real question is this: Beyond providing a lucky FEW people in need, what else is being done???
You know, I was on my state's medical assistance website last night doing some research, and realized that in order to get coverage(if you're over 19) you have to literally make less than $12,958 dollars a year! Which might sound fair to some, but the fact is, unless you're making under $10 bucks an hour, you're pretty much out of luck. During the multiple years I spent working temp gigs and being a contractor I never had insurance on my own. Some of the agencies I worked for didn't even offer health insurance, and the others that did wanted to take a pretty nice sized chunk out of my weekly checks. Which sucked. I mean when you're living on your own, rent, bills, and everything adds up pretty quick on 10 bucks an hour. Then of course they had a problem with me doing overtime. I was between a rock and a hard place. So I just decided I'd try my best not to get sick. I stocked up on Halls cough drops, tea, soup and Nyquil when the winters came. I was lucky enough to not get sick enough to ever need to visit the ER. Many folks aren't though. The more I think about things, the more I see how much the system sets the lower class up to fail. It's definitely not fair. Anyone falling below the poverty line should automatically be covered in some sort of way. Not everyone is trying to abuse the system. You shouldn't have to rush out to the ER just to know whats going on with your health.
This all leads me to where I am right now in my life. I'm an IT guy at heart, love computers like their people almost(I know, weird). So when my mom, who happens to be a Nurse/Certified Diabetes Educator told me she was starting her own organization to provide help folks who are diabetic and in need, I wasn't really surprised. She's always had these "Robin Hood" style stories about how things were run in the hospitals she's worked in. How certain staff didn't care about the families with little to no money. She always would help people in any way she could. So that got me and my bro thinking one day like "What if we could provide low cost diabetes supplies to everyone who was uninsured/underinsured in the U.S?". We brainstormed a little more and I got to work creating the website for Steps To Success. We didn't ponder about what the price of things should be. We simply asked ourselves one question: "What would I like to pay for supplies every month?"
14.99 a month(until Dec 1st 2012). That's what we came up with. So that's what we're running with now. For that amount, you get a FREE Bayer Contour Next EZ meter, 50 test strips(up to 150 if you need em), unlimited access to our CDE, and a ton of valuable information. Not to mention total access to our site, which includes a Glycemic index table, Diabetes e-book, a Forum & Chat room, logs and more! We've partnered with a few very cool companies to help us make this happen, so in the package you'll be receiving samples of their products as well. Too often we run into people who are paying hundreds of dollars a month on testing supplies. It's fine if you have the money to do so, but if you don't, what are you supposed to do??? Many people aren't testing. Not because they're being stubborn, or don't care about their health.....It's because they're choosing between keeping the lights on/food on the table and testing more than 2 times a day. If you have kids(I have a son), It's pretty obvious your health is gonna take a backseat every time.
The system isn't fair. The uninsured and underinsured fall through the cracks...and If you're uninsured/underinsured with Diabetes you fall even deeper due to the higher costs each year. Back in 2008 on average a person with diabetes paid nearly 13,000 a year in related costs. That number keeps rising.
They don't want you to win....but we're going to try to even the playing field.
Sorry for the long post! Had a lot on my mind lol.
prguitarman
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blakekathryn
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turnnoffyourmind