Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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If you were diagnosed before age 26 or if you have a child with T1D who is now an adult, at what age did you or your child become financially responsible for the entire financial cost of diabetes supplies? Cancel reply
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None of these answers work for me. I was diagnosed at age 19. I was a full time student with a part time job. I had no insurance as I aged off my parent’s the day I turned 19. There was no ACA/marketplace back then. I paid for my NPH & Regular insulin myself, along with syringes. Test strips cost too much so I rarely tested.
1976 – I was 23 years old and had a full-time job, with insurance. I’ve always maintained insurance and have been responsible for my own T1D costs.
I was diagnosed at age 9, but thanks to universal healthcare in my country, I have never paid a penny for insulin or needed supplies. That is until I came to USA.
Of course I am 65. When I became working age, insulin was less than $2 a vial. We never had any discussion of any healthcare costs when I was a kid or high school. THEN we had healthcare in this country, now we have PROFITcare.
I was diagnosed at 22 while in the military, hence my T1D is service connected and after I was discharged I obtained my T1D supplies through the Veterans Administration.
I was diagnosed at 18, when I was in college with a part time job. This was in 1965, when the cost of insulin was a tiny fraction of what it is now. And I relied on inexpensive needles and glass syringes which hardly ever needed replacement
I was diagnosed in my mid 50’s after 30 years of annual flight physicals. I have 4 children who are all pre-diabetic.
When I got married and left my parents house. I was 21 at the time
I aged out of my parents benefits at 19, I hadn’t graduated college and wasn’t working. That sucked
I clicked 6 after I aged out of my parents insurance at age 26……but I think it was more like 21 or 23.
It’s not applicable in my case as I live in the UK (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and there is no financial cost to get my diabetes supplies. They are provided ‘free of charge’ as they are paid for by our NHS (National Health Service), which is financed via direct taxation of all working people.
I have ALWAYS had to pay for my own cost of my Diabetes supplies and medications, but there was NO APPROPRIATE answer option given since I was diagnosed at age 24 and was personally responsible for my personal expenses ever since I started my first job at age 9. Even in grade school, if I wanted a new toy or bike, I couldn’t get one until I had earned enough money to pay for it myself.
Back in the day I was a minor in most states where I lived until age 21, so on my parents’ health insurance at least until then (through college). But I remember paying out of pocket expenses. Insulin was < $4/vial and I think wasn’t prescription, though syringes may have required a prescription. But I don’t remember any kind of insurance coverage other than for doctor visits. I think I got my own health insurance in law school, and definitely got my own health insurance when I started working full time in 1976, at age 24.
I was 48.
I was diagnosed a month or so after turning 26 but had long been financially responsible.
I have T1D, but it was late-onset. My child did not have it, so my answer is N/A,
My T1D costs have been largely met by the UK health service as a UK resident.
I was 25 when diagnosed and was already working and had insurance so it has always been my responsibility.
Treatment began when I was seventeen years old all “serious” costs have always been covered by insurance. I don’t recall ANY costs being excessive prior to … oh, about 1988 or thereabout. I still recall paying less than a dollar for a vial of insulin in the seventies. I also seem to recall doctors’ office visits costing about ten bucks! Emergency department visits were neve more than about fifty bucks.
I only wish that my memory of CURRENT events was that good!
I’m now seventy six years old and diagnosed at seventeen.
I remember paying $17 for a vial of insulin in the late 1070’s to early 1980’s. My, how things have changed, eh?
Dx at age 32
Immediately as I was already employed and had medical insurance that’s paid for 55 years, with some significant copayments
Medicare helps, as it should, but whether it’s my old age, or all the hoops we need to jump through to be eligible for that coverage, it does seem as if unnecessary tension is built into the system. It’s counterproductive to the real goal of living a healthy life, and too many people are just resigned to that. I still like a chance to have my voice heard. Pharmaceutical companies, and government: Please ease up on price gouging and unnecessary restrictions.
Sincerely!
I was diagnosed in December 1962 at the age of 8. When I left home to attend college at the age of 17 I had a student living stipend and a student health policy thru NYU. I bought insulin and disposable needle tips & syringes without any difficulty. They were very inexpensive at the time and easy to obtain with a script from the NYU Health Center.
My mother stopped paying for health insurance when I left home for college and for a few years after college I did not have any regular health insurance coverage. Somehow I managed to survive until I got married at age 26 and acquired health insurance coverage through my then husband. After we divorced I acquired my own health insurance through various employers in health care.
I stopped doing urine testing at the age of 12 or 13 because it my urines were always murky olive green or orange. It was so discouraging and seemed so pointless that as a young adult I never assumed the expense. I was fortunate to acquire my first glucometer (it was an Ames) and supplies thru the arm of the DCCT that I was involved in from 1982 to 1985. It is hard to believe that I survived with T1 diabetes for over 20 years before I was initiated into the life changing world of home BG monitoring!!!!
I assumed full health care cost, at 20, after college, with my own insurance through my employer. But, as I recall, I never actually used the insurance to pay for the regular insulin/syringes, or even blood test strips, till the mid-1980s, because until then they had never added up to more than my yearly $200 deductible. In college years, wanting to stay overnight with my sister or a friend, I remember just going in a drug store and buying insulin and one of the fancy new disposable syringes (I was still using a glass syringe and metal needle in those days — with a vial of insulin, and the need for sterility, not so portable),
When I got married at 21 years of age
I was not diagnosed before age 26.
Diagnosed at 18 y/o as a freshman in college. Fortunate to be covered under my father’s employer provided insurance while in college. Assumed cost of my care a few months after graduating college and starting full job with benefits.
diagnosed at 43
I joined the US Navy at 17 years of age. I was diagnosed with Diabetes at 24 years of age in 1968. I was working for Pan American World Airways and had great Insurance. I have had always great insurance since then and still do in retirement. Diabetes financials have had no drain on my life.
I found out a week before my 25th birthday and had to pay out of pocket because I had no insurance at the time and was already off of my parents’ insurance.
Diagnosis at age 6. I finished a 2-year degree in college, married at age 20. At that point, I assumed all financial responsibility for my diabetes. Had I attained a more advanced degree after high school, I would have stayed on my parent’s insurance
When I got married at 22, went on my husbands health insurance plan.