Guys. It’s not health care reform. It’s insurance reform.
I’m so relieved. Two years eleven months more, rain or shine, I’ll be covered.
It’s like a weight is lifted off my chest.
No, you don’t understand. You don’t understand what it’s like to be down to your last insulin bottle and have the insurance company tell you you have to wait two more weeks for insulin. You don’t know what it’s like to have a prescription written for three boxes of insulin pens only to go to the pharmacy and have them hand you one box. You don’t understand. I figured up last week that it costs almost 25,000 dollars for diabetes medicine and supplies alone. But you also have to add in the cost of a doctor’s appointment. Or four a year. And labwork. A1c. Cholesterol. Kidneys. Triglycerides. A bunch of other things I don’t really understand. Or Eye Doctors. Foot Doctors. Registered Dietitians. Certified Diabetes Educators. Cardiologists. Gynecologists. Ophthalmologists. Endocrinologists. Whatever you want to call them. People with diabetes need to see most of these people at least once a year, and their core diabetes care team at least twice a year.
You don’t understand how much money it costs just to be alive.
Even with insurance. And I have good insurance. I don’t pay much for my prescriptions. Although it did go up this year. I assume in preparation for the passage of HCR. But I have no idea because I don’t know whether or not insurance companies can do whatever they want with regards to prescriptions. I pay 50 dollars for three months worth of insulin. Medical supplies still cost me an arm and a leg. I have to pay full price for CGMS sensors until I meet my 1000 dollar medical deductible. I have a 50 dollar copay for any doctor’s visit. Not to mention the 30-50 dollar fee I pay every time I feel the slightest bit sick, because sickness and diabetes are not good combinations. I don’t even have vision insurance. I’m not even sure if my ophthalmologist visits are covered. I haven’t been in years 
(Don’t worry, I’m going soon). And then, for a lot of people with diabetes, mental health professionals are essential. So many of us struggle with guilt and burn out when it comes to our diabetes. I know it sounds crazy, but trust me. We do.
Essentially, it costs about 30,000 dollars a year to have diabetes, rough estimate.
Umm, hello! Even when I was working “full time,” I didn’t make that much in a year. A lot of people don’t. A. Lot. And guess what? Diabetes does not discriminate among socioeconomic classes. Guess what? No chronic or terminal illness discriminates in this area.
I’m glad we have started to make progress. I can see things from both sides. But I don’t like health care as an “industry.” It opens the door for big companies to take advantage of people who are sick. It makes me sick thinking that some political right wingers see the health care industry as that – an industry. It’s not an industry – this is people’s lives we are messing with here.
One small victory. We will see where it goes from here. The amount of partisanship that is present in this country scares me out of my mind. This is how countries fall apart. Come, on, Congress. Get your act together. You’re running us into the ground.
Oh and hey, thanks.
The SaJaBla Life 
Very, very well put. Thank you for giving me further ammunition when arguing with the opposition!! 🙂
Great post Sarah!!!! I’m starting to get a little miffed reading status updates on facebook saying that this reform is going to run America into the ground…
It is unbelievable how expensive diabetes is. I have been scared of loosing my insurance ever since I was diagnosed…not to mention being denied by other insurance companies, I’ve had to keep the one I am currently on for almost 500 dollars a month. Ick.
Sarah, your eye MD should be covered under medical – because it is part of diabetes thx. most people only go because of their vision – which isn’t billed under medical, but requires seperate vision coverage. you should be good to go! double check with your insurance though!