I am no longer on my parents insurance because I am 26 and I am starting to get so far into debt that I will never be able to move out of my parents home, buy a house or afford an insulin pump. I really need a pump because my life is very hectic and my numbers are all over the place. I am afraid of dying all because I can't afford insurance. Even now I am having to reuse needles and use test strips that are outdated by 4 years. Someone please HELP!
i'm confused: i thought as long as you were a student & living at home, you could be covered under your parent's insurance?
can your parents not help you out so you're not using 4year old test strips? have you tried contacting your local diabetes association/JDRF office?
at iowa state university, you only have to take 1 credit a year to be eligible for student insurance. is this something you can afford or are willing to look into? have you considered looking at other jobs that will offer you health insurance? temporarily, you should be eligible for COBRA insurance. a lot of companies now are even offering health benefits for part time employees.
speak with your doctor, contact local clinics (for low income), and talk with other local diabetes resources. they will be able to help you find cheap diabetes supplies. also, contact the pump companies if you are really interested in an insulin pump. i was able to get my animas ping for $200 and it didn't go through insurance at all. they had a special program going that i took advantage of. they may have a similar program available, where you can get a used pump very cheaply.
When I was in grad school, I "aged out" of my parents' insurance. The school insurance was fine for doctors visit, but they had a $500 per year limit on prescription coverage. Obviously that lasted about a month for me! But, I would still recommend looking into the school insurance. Yours could be better, or at least you'd get some coverage.
Gina, are you out there? You recently posted 2 links for someone else about getting reduced cost D supplies if you're uninsured...
Rachael,
I aged out of my parents insurance as well at 23. I had to buy insurance through my current college, and take out a larger student loan to do so. It sucks, but paying out of pocket for all of my medical supplies would be more expensive than what I'm doing now. Does your college have its own insurance plan? Also, is it legal to ship syringes? Because I think I still have shitloads somewhere and I'm on the pump, so I could send you some boxes if you just pay for shipping.
Molly