# Free Diabetes Drugs and Supplies Considered



## Northerner (Feb 24, 2013)

Getting free diabetes drugs and supplies sounds like a great deal for patients. However, the ultimate payoff is whether people with diabetes improve or have better diabetes management when price barriers are removed. Here?s what the study?s authors discovered.

Does offering free diabetes drugs work?
Providing some free medical supplies and medications is not a new idea. This concept is part of a program known as value-based insurance design (VBID). Here?s a general idea of how it works.

Say you normally would pay $25 co-pay for your type 2 diabetes drugs and another fee for your glucose strips. With a VBID program, your company would pay for these items for you.
However, at the same time, if you requested a procedure that your company felt was not necessary or was overused, it might tell you to pay $800 for the procedure if you want it.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/free-diabetes-drugs-and-supplies-considered

Once again, very thankful we have the NHS!


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## LeeLee (Feb 24, 2013)

I echo the sentiment about the NHS, but I do wish drugs for other life-threatening conditions were also fully covered (e.g. asthma, which has nearly killed me several times).


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## Northerner (Feb 24, 2013)

LeeLee said:


> I echo the sentiment about the NHS, but I do wish drugs for other life-threatening conditions were also fully covered (e.g. asthma, which has nearly killed me several times).



Yes, that does seem strange. I wonder how many asthma sufferers there are in the country?


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## trophywench (Feb 24, 2013)

Yes asthma always seemed potty to me, once I knew everything I got was free.  Of course LeeLee now youre diabetic, your asthma scrips are free too - on the assumption that is, that your receive drugs for your D.  If you were Diet & Exercise, you'd still pay for everything not D.

Completely potty because your other 'things' will affect your BG control .... Deep Sigh.


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## LeeLee (Feb 24, 2013)

Yes TW, you're right.  The metfartin is the key to everything free!  

I was D&E only for years before that, so had to pay for 2 lots of drugs for asthma, plus 2 for BP every month, plus statin, plus antibiotics and steroids during crises, plus painkillers for arthritis.  Of course I bought pre-payment certificates, otherwise the cost would have crippled me financially.

The ironic thing is that since I've been taking M and looking after myself better, I've stopped one BP drug altogether, reduced the other, and almost never need the painkillers!


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## mcdonagh47 (Feb 26, 2013)

Northerner said:


> Once again, very thankful we have the NHS!



for how long ?

its due to be announced shortly ,according to the Mirror, that all
 aspects of the NHS have to be put out to tender to private companies so that they can cherry pick lucrative assets the tax payer owns now. It wasn't in Lansley's original plan which said things "could" be put out to tender, its now "got to be" put out to tender. Sneaky privatisation for their friends in the City.

I was thinking if setting up a brass plate company with nothing more than a computer in the spare bedroom and tendering to run diabetic services in this region dirt cheap ;-)
Pegasus Diabetic Services - just need a nice letterhead and colourful website.


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