3 Money-Saving Tips for People with Diabetes

By , FreeStyle®
Whether you’re newly diagnosed or have been managing diabetes for years, you know that out-of-pocket expenses can add up fast. The American Diabetes Association reports that, on average, people who have been diagnosed with diabetes spend more than twice as much on medical expenses than people who don’t have diabetes.1 Here's how to keep costs down while managing your diabetes as effectively as possible.
 
Take Advantage of Coupons & Rebates
Fortunately, drugstores are in stiff competition for your business, so watch for weekly circulars and coupon books to optimize your savings. You can also browse drugstore websites for paperless coupons and visit the websites of different manufacturers to find more potential savings.
 
In addition to coupons, many major retailers or drugstores have prescription savings clubs along with loyalty programs for general merchandise. You might also benefit from some of the free health resources retailers provide their customers, including wellness apps, free blood pressure screenings and discounts on vaccinations.

Consider Buying Testing Supplies Over the Counter
If you have insurance but are finding that out of pocket costs for blood glucose test strips are high, you might benefit from buying your test strips over the counter. Until now, it hasn’t been possible to buy meters and test strips from leading brands over the counter at accessible prices. But now the FreeStyle family of products includes a system that’s available over the counter, without a prescription.
 
The new FreeStyle Precision Neo meter and test strips give patients a quality alternative to using insurance – and paying high copays – for blood glucose test strips. Look for the FreeStyle Precision Neo meter and test strips at major retailers or drugstores in the diabetes supplies section. You can also buy them online at FreeStylePrecisionNeo.com. Prices may vary, but the MSRP for 50 test strips is $21.99.
 
Put Your Flexible Spending Account to Work
Flexible Spending Accounts, or FSAs, allow employees to contribute a set amount of pretax dollars from their salary to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses, including health insurance copays and over-the-counter drug purchases. Using an FSA requires a little planning, but – depending on your tax bracket – you can reduce your healthcare costs by as much as 30 percent2.
 
If you’re not sure how much to put into an FSA, tap into one of the free online healthcare FSA savings calculators for help estimating your health care costs for the year.
 
It All Adds Up
While there’s not one surefire way to keep your costs down with diabetes, there are definite savings to be had in places you might not expect. Tap into every resource available to you - from your doctor and pharmacist to support groups and friends - to learn savings strategies that work for them. In addition to the savings tips above, check out ''How Do You Deal With It?'' for a new approach to keeping the cost of testing supplies down.
 
 Sources
1 Diabetes.org. "Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2012," accessed April 2015. www.diabetes.org.
 
2 opm.gov “Flexible Spending Accounts,” accessed April 2015. www.opm.gov.