Any suggestions about the best sources for Contour Next test strips?
I usually get them from Amazon, but recently they have either been unavailable or take forever to arrive. Amazon only has 70 strip boxes (35 per vial) and I would prefer to have 100 strip boxes or 50 per vial. The cost is currently $0.38 per strip. I have to pay out of pocket, as Medicare won’t cover both test strips and Dexcom sensors.
I’m interested in your suggestions. TIA!
We get our through the local CVS pharmacy with our other scripts.
Yes; Amazon’s prices changed recently. I think they must have blocked the non-Amazon sellers as part of their attempts to be a pharmacist, but I don’t know.
Test strips are not prescription so it is still legal to import them into the US. I don’t know what the prices are in Mexico at present but if anyone does I would be interested! Canada is also a possibility, not online but since they can be bought directly it’s always worth a quick check if you are in CA.
Other than that I looked at the same problem recently to get test strips for relatives in Taiwan and my conclusion was that the Walmart “ReliOn” brand is a good place to start. They are still expensive but the price is comparable to the Contour Next One price that used to be available under Amazon. There’s no reason not to swap other than the inconvenience of calibrating the new test strip against the old; I haven’t tried a detailed test of the “ReliOn” strips myself but my wife’s brief tests suggested at least “OK”.
EDIT: I should add that I have insurance that pays for test strips and I’m currently paying $107.90/100 (compared to a “cash” price of $132/100). I do have both the test strips and the sensors; the sensors don’t work for the first day or the last so I typically blow rather a lot of test strips those days. The Relion ones were about 16c/strip, as opposed to 107c/strip.
I shop both Walgreens and CVS, and Walgreens (Duane Reade in NYC) usually has a better price for Contour Next strips. It pays to be a little strategic and stock up when they have a promotion (say for ordering online and picking up in store or for FSA eligible items) and/or a coupon (which occasionally shows up at Walgreens but never CVS for some reason.)
The 70 box seems always to be the cheapest per strip. It’s contour’s “bonus test strips” size.
I have had good luck using eBay. It is cheaper than most places!
@Eric
Re: buying via eBay, do you worry about the expiration date or the chance of getting “counterfeit” test strips?
I don’t worry about it. The sellers won’t last very long if they sold counterfeit stuff. They would get complaints and eBay would shut them down.
You just pick sellers with a high rating and it won’t happen.
Most of the listings show the expiration date on the box, or mention it. If they don’t have an expiration date on the listing, just skip it and go to a different listing.
Amazon gives favorable offers