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March 2013 Blog

By Joann Manty posted 03-05-2013 11:18

  

I'm working on a project at my hospital and I would like to hear what is happening at other places. Here's the story. We have people with Type 1 diabetes who are uninsured or underinsured and they don't have money to continue their diabetes care, such as doing blood sugars (strip cost) and/or taking insulin as needed (again cost).

Here are my questions: What resources are available in your community for these folks?

Admission and readmission costs are high for these probable non-payors, what are you doing to help these folks?

I'd like to hear what is happening out there. We are trying to impact the admissions and thinking about paying for insulin, strips, etc, for these folks to decrease their readmissions/admissions.

Thanks for your thoughts and expertise.

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Joan Paul
08-23-2013 04:29

no insurance/hospital readmissions

Joann,


The Medical Access Coalition does all the paperwork for assistance from the drug companies and may be able to provide other assistance such as labs, dr. visits, etc.


Joan

Joann Manty
03-22-2013 10:18

no insurance/prevent hospitalizations

Joan: I know about the temporary assistance the Lions can provide. We have those 20 someones who are not on parents insurance (because parents don't have it) and either have no job or their job has no insurance and they don't qualify for other assistance programs.


Are there still samples of insulin out there for these folks?

Joan Paul
03-20-2013 15:02

No insurance/prevent hospitalizations

For UP residents, there is help through the District 10 Lions Diabetes & Awareness Committee. We can usually help with purchase of meds, strips for 1-2 months, until the patient can qualify for the patient assistance programs. The Medical Access Coalition helps them fill out the forms. Current contacts for the Lions: Joan Paul 906-428-4457 or Willy LaMarche 906-786-0724. 

Kathy Dropeski
03-07-2013 09:44

no insurance/type 1

We do not have a free clinic or FQHC in our area, which is the first barrier for people without insurance or with insurance that does not cover primary care, or people with those medicaid monthly spend-down plans. For insulin, we try to get them on a patient assistance program through the drug company. They will often get sample syringe packs from us or from their doctor. One thing I've learned is that if a patient goes on the Lantus solostar patient assistance program, they do not get pen needles, but if they go on the Levemir pen patient assistance program, Novo Nordisk includes the pen needles with their shipment. For strips, I usually tell them about the Wal-mart Reli On product, it's not my favorite meter, but it is the most affordable. What gets really difficult is the folks who cannot afford even the Reli on.  


I think if you want to impact admissions, the first step would be to make sure there is access to primary medical care, also lab testing. If they cannot afford to go to the doctor, then they're going to let their problems get very bad until they finally end up in the ER. Certainly, this problem encompasses people with type 2 diabetes as well.