The average diabetic patient can spend thousands of dollars in a year in testing product supplies alone . The economy, changes in the healthcare system, and reduction in insurance providers reimbursement’s, the hardship of the cost of testing supplies has fallen on the patient.
Discount Home Health Care Companies, are only part of the solution to reducing costs. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients will search the internet or go to a local pharmacy to get the best brand and price for that model. This however: is usually the beginning of a mistake of large economic scale, to their personal finance.
“What is the best brand or model” is the patients question. The large pharmaceutical companies make millions from that question. Selling strips, that cost pennies for $1.00 or more, then giving the patient a “Free Meter”.
Secondary Brands can save a patient enough money in a lifetime to retire on. Lets compare $57.90- $65.00 in a recent posting on 4 websites for the same Name Brand item. A box of 50 strips that were sold with a “free glucose meter”. That is an average of $1.23 per test. Let us say you found a super discount and got it for $50.00. You are still spending $1.00 per test 3 times a day, 365 days per year or about $1300 per year.
An educated consumer can purchase secondary brands, from a reputable website and purchase strips for $14.00 in a bottle of 50.
The meter may cost $20-$30.00 . The strips now cost 28 cents each. Using the same 365 day 3 uses per day the cost to the patient is $306.60 per year.
The brands like Wavesense Presto, Wavesense Keynote, Vertex, Truetest, Prodigy, Omnis, and Sidekick can deliver a brand quality without brand cost.
The monitors offer memory, and no code features. They deliver accuracy and ease of use. What they do not have is large branding, advertising, Madison Avenue creativity and huge executive salaries, Learjet’s, limousine services and a CEO who’s activity’s have nothing to do with product improvement and cost reduction to his customers.
Let’s talk risk versus reward. Many products made by vendors that have to try harder, carry very high quality and value. They usually are entities
Bayer's BREEZE®2 Blood Glucose Monitoring System
that were founded by hard working purist scientists, that strive for a better result.
Accu-Chek Aviva
Accu-chek, Ascensia, Breeze, Bayer, Siemens, Contour, and Elite, are just a few of the higher quality, higher cost strips and meters that you can find value and price competition in your local pharmacy and or the internet.
Recently the media carried many recall notices from well know brand glucose meters. The reason for the recalls included both inaccurate results due to the strips chemistry were identifying the wrong type of sugars to measure. The other reason was a change in the manufacturers unit of measure reporting, confusing patients with the results. One would think these large pharmaceutical company’s would have a better internal quality control system that would help avoid such issues.
This gives a good example as to why one should not find comfort in spending more, for a brand you know. That thought process can be valid, but due diligence, can also deliver safety and large savings
