Losing job/insurance and the options that follow

I consider myself extremely resourceful… and my son has been on Medicaid for almost his entire life… I agree that there’s no way, even on my best day that I could figure out how to jump through the hoops… fortunatey though, they have social workers and care coordinators whose job it is to navigate the system for bumpkins like us

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Elaborate, please. How is this possible? Is there a medical issue necessitating his Medicaid? (not trying to pry or be personal…just trying to understand how your child is able to be on Medicaid when/if make enough money and have insurance?)

I must admit, I don’t know a lot about Medicaid.

It’s different in every state because Medicaid is implemented at the state level. In Alaska, my son qualifies for the “intellectual/ developmental disability waiver” which means he alone (not the rest of us) gets 100% Medicaid coverage for any medical expenses (despite our relatively high household income). currently I have pretty good private insurance too, so it just acts as his secondary insurance, but if we were to lose primary insurance he would still be 100% covered by this program as his primary insurance…

Other states have similar programs, some better than others

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I make far too much unfortunately for my son to qualify in VA, but I wish. You have a sweet deal! I’ve been watching “Life Below Zero” and I’ve been asking my wife if we can move out there and “live off the land”…but she’s not having it. :smiley:

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I’d look into it, at least here my income was not considered whatsoever in his qualification… but it is an exhaustive process every year that requires a professional care coordinators assistance

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How does Diabetes qualify as a “intellectual/ developmental disability waiver”?

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His underlying disability is autism. His case is severe enough that he’s considered completely and presumably permanently disabled…

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Ohhhh, now I understand it. So he’s not getting the Medicaid for the Diabetes. He’s getting the Medicaid for his Autism. That makes sense. If our son who has Autism also had T1, we would probably be able to look into a waiver like this, but Diabetes alone is in no way a intellectual or developmental disability.

Thanks for the info!

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Correct, as far as I know he wouldn’t be able to qualify for any such programs if he had diabetes alone (he doesn’t have diabetes)

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So why are you using Afrezza and Tresiba then? I agree with @Katers87, R + NPH is surviving.

I believe that nobody would do it by choice.

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But many people are doing it by choice. I use tresiba and afrezza because they’re the latest generation and cutting edge. Your question is no different than me asking you why you use an insulin pump, which is also a previous generation technology…

Even dr bernenstein recommends R (not sure about NpH) as I just pointed out, I personally know people who have opportunity to use whatever they want and chose R and NPH… after having tried analogs and decided they didn’t like them

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I am waiting to meet just one of them. But even if they did exist, they would belong to an extreme minority. For everyone else, as @Katers87, it is just “surviving.”

I think that characterization is probably borderline offensive to the many many thousands of people going through life using it every day… you can characterize that you’re not interested in it… but a lot of people use them… some people do quite well with them and prefer them… I don’t think they’d like to be called “just surviving” any more than people using pumps would like to hear me say that having a pump attached to you is no way to go through life and is barely surviving

(That’s likely why they don’t join web forums often)

This article sums up pretty much every story I’ve ever heard about R and NPH Insulins. If everyone experiences the same (which is the majority of the people I’ve read), this is just “surviving”. Having to “eat around the insulin” whether you’re hungry or not, being stuck to a strict schedule to extreme peaks caused by NPH, being basically held captive by the insulin isn’t much of an existence imo.

As with everything created in the 50’s and 60’s (except maybe the classic cars), with the improved education, scientific breakthroughs and discoveries as well as the improvement in technology, there’s no wonder “new” insulins are used by the vast majority of the insulin dependent world. Are there outliners? Sure. There always are. But every story I’ve ever heard and ever article I’ve ever read makes me believe that IF we’re ever forced to be on R and NPH insulins, be prepared for a hell like we’ve not seen before in Liam.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030087/ Here’s a good article on the subject. It’s short enough that it’s a fast read. Note for context that they’re saying human insulin only costs 50% what analogs do… so they’re comparing the sticker list price not the Walmart $25 price which puts human insulin well below 10% the price of analogs…

It would be really easy to put up a poll here and figure out the result. But I think we both know what it would be… And that is exactly why you are not on R and NPH.

I plan to when I retire. I’ve done the cost benefit analysis.

I won’t hold you to it :slight_smile: Thank me for that!

"For those who wish to use a much less expensive, evidence-based approach to insulin therapy, analog insulins are not preferred with two important exceptions. Type 1 diabetic patients require basal analog insulin because they produce no endogenous insulin and need 24-h coverage. "

This is a direct quote from the article you posted to support the use of NPH.

But my point is, that thousands patients are on them, and it’s an increasingly more valid debate every year (and one that’s gaining traction amongst researchers and practitioners) if the increasingly absurd costs of analogs can really be justified.

Can’t help but notice no clicks on the article ;).