Surviving on $50 with no prescriptions or insurance

Eric
Thu, 31 Aug 2017 18:14:40 +0000
Type 1 & LADA

Recently there was a story about a diabetic who died because he couldn’t afford his insulin. And the hurricane news brought other stories up about people needing insulin, and a preparation thread.

I wanted to address the survivability issue when someone can’t afford their prescriptions or loses insurance coverage or is far from home with no meds.

This is not a recommendation on ideal treatment. This is what keeps you alive for less than $50.

Both ReliOn Novolin N (NPH) insulin and ReliOn R insulin are available from Walmart for $24.88 per vial WITH NO PRESCRIPTION. Syringes are also available with no prescription.

R is a mealtime bolus insulin, but slower than the current popular rapids. NPH is a medium length basal.

As a treatment example - a shot of both NPH and R in the morning, the R is slower than current rapids, so it would cover both breakfast and some of lunch. The NPH starts to come in around lunchtime, and helps with lunch and also helps cover dinner. A little more R with dinner, along with the NPH that is remaining from the morning will cover the dinner. And a little NPH at night covers you through the night.

Lose insurance? In a strange city with no access to anything? No prescription? $50 keeps you alive.

@Sam, this is somewhat related to your prep thread, but a bit of a tangent. Merge or keep separate, whatever you think is best.

43 posts - 9 participants