patticat
Member
- Messages
- 14
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- nosey, unkind and intolerant people; mushy-textured, doughy food
I think it's possible to get free meters in UK as the profit is made on the test strips. The main difference is diabetes is considered a long term disability and it means we get free prescriptions for drugs, meds etc. I think in the US everything is either paid for or insured so I can see why you would be encouraged to test. Is this correct ?
You are correct up to a point. In the US, we do the daily testing and then go every three months like you to have our HC1C done. Also, here we are mostly encouraged to do the "low carb" eating, which is what I do, and it seems to work pretty well at keeping the BG under control. Don't really understand the propensity in UK for high carb eating??? Mine usually stays around 105 ml/dl with a 5.5 to 6.0 HC1C, which is considered good. Believe that would translate to 5.5 to 6.0 mmol/l for you. Here in the US, there is no such thing as "free" medical, unless you're one of the fortunate ones like myself. Since my husband was a Vietnam-era veteran and died of what was considered a service-related illness - in his case ALS - I have veterans' insurance and get all my diabetic supplies and any generic meds (not name brand though) free through their mail med service. Also, those on what we call Medicaid get a certain amount of test strips and diabetic meds free. Most people though have to pay for their strips and meds in full, unless they happen to have some insurance, which a lot of people heretofore have not had because like me they couldn't afford it. Now, of course, our medical system is going through the change of Obamacare, which is not considered a good "fix" by a lot of people, myself included. I myself was without any insurance at all for six years because I couldn't afford it, and I had to pay through the nose for everything, and it was costing me a good $600 a month on a very fixed income until I started receiving my husband's veterans' benefits, so I didn't test as frequently or go see my doctor as often as I should. But don't get me started on that!