I appreciate Sarah. I saw her live once in a small club…incredible show. For whatever reason it looked like her arms were really long.
Her arms do seem unnaturally long, but it could just be that she has short legs. In either case, I look forward to the documentary.
I never noticed it before, but now that you mention it, something doesn’t look quite right with her.
Sarah Silverman’s comedy is wicked pissah because she puts so much of herself into it. It will be interesting to see what she does with such a serious subject and if it has a significant impact. I’m hoping so.
I worry it’ll be a tough thing to watch. I really can’t take hearing stories about people who have died due to a lack of insulin. It just breaks my heart and makes me so angry at the same time.
I am a big Sarah Silverman fan. I usually like her pod cast as well - which comes out every Thursday. But doesn’t have anything to do with diabetes.
This is my biggest fear as a parent of a T1D. I know i will keep him insured until he is 26 (which will put my age of retirement at 67 at a minimum), but then what. I’ve already actually already discussed with him multiple times that America’s healthcare system is horrible and tied to you’re job… Maybe by the time he is 26 things will be different. He already has heard how important it is to “get with a good company with good benefits” when he’s an adult. I haven’t discussed with him the truth… That he can be “priced out” of life here in the US given our current healthcare system, the greed at all levels and the lack of concern by the wealthy legislators to change things for the common folk.
This is really the only thing that keeps me up at night.
You can get insulin for $33 per vial.
(It’s $99 for “up to 3 vials”. So getting 1 vial for $99 would be dumb cuz you can instead get 3 vials for $99.)
It’s not the cheap slow stuff, but actual NovoLog.
Here are a couple of links. There are a bunch of these links out there, just google “NovoLog $99”.
Yes, i know about the last resort options which is what i would categorize them as, and that they are available, and he will know those options. But i wish for him to be able to do more than “survive”. I know the older generations had no tech and some turned out really well but for every success story there are many sad stories, we’ll probably hear about some of those in this documentary. CGMs and all the great tech we have today is what i consider setting someone up to be able to “thrive”, not just survive. If not independently wealthy, it would be impossible for most people to pay out of pocket for all the great tech that helps diabetics with their quality of life.
The out-of-pocket for CMG and pump stuff would wipe me out faster than the insulin.
For insulin I could almost get by on about $33 a month. Maybe a little more money if I ate more.
But a month of pods would cost me about $300. I have no idea what a month of CGM would be, but probably even more than that.
Thanks for confirming the suspicions…I was in party mode but for whatever reason that was one of the more memorable parts of the show.
My first job out of college was able to deny me coverage of diabetes related (“pre-existing”), but fortunately in 1980s insulin was cheap, and urine testing the only option (and useless). I think after 2 years they would cover, but I moved to a new job/state, with much better coverage and no waiting.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the horrible practice of denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions was done away with. HHS’s current standing on this topic can be found here.
I know it used to happen but it’s not the way it is anymore so unless things change again before he’s 27, hopefully we’ll be good there.
Omnipod may be available for less; I haven’t tried looking at the self pay options for a long time. Dexcom isn’t - unlike everything else Dexcom seems to be set on charging a high price for as long as they can. I did recently check on Dexcom availability in the UK and it is not available, because of the price; you either pay it all yourself or you don’t use it.
This stuff may be temporary; this is bleeding edge tech and there are even guys out there who are using software they build themselves to control insulin dosage. A highly dangerous practice called Hacking, or was it Cycling, or something like that - sorry, I’ve never listened to a pod cast in my life. I’m sure the people in charge will stop it when they want to make money out of it.
Anyone worked out yet how to change the batteries in a 10 year old Eros pod?
You would also need to reset the reservoir, the plunger, AND the insertion mechanism with the cannula. And also redo the adhesive for attachment.
It could probably be done, but the cost and labor would be worth more than the $30 pod.
Like rebuilding your kitchen after the entire house has been burned down.
Indeed; I was just thinking of my stock of Eros pods and my imminent need to replace the batteries if I start Cycling. However, I don’t think it’s that difficult - for one this is the Eros pod is easier to pop apart than the Dash pod.
I feel, intuitively, that the electronics in there probably doesn’t need a reset - it’s all mechanical. But, at the end of the day, what’s so difficult about printing this stuff? The electronics are garbage, easy to fab. Yet the Omnipod and Dexcom share this in common, the tricky things are mechanical, the pump in the Omnipod (an ingenious hot-wire device which is fundamentally fail safe) and the sensor in the Dexcom (most likely far less ingenious).
Oh, ya. I misunderstood. I thought you meant replacing the battery on a used pod, not an unused one. 
What you are taking about would certainly be much easier.