The three major insulin manufacturers are lowering prices for Medicare patients, but cost is still a huge barrier to the effective treatment of type 2 diabetes which accounts for 90% of diabetes cases. This article reviews these changes in insulin pricing in detail. People who struggle with type 2 diabetes don’t just have the cost of insulin to consider. They usually have several other problems and they see multiple specialists. They may have diabetic eye disease, diabetic kidney disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and artery disease. They may already be on multiple expensive medications and treatments. The eyeball injections for diabetic eye disease can cost $2000 a month. These price decreases for insulin only apply to certain categories of patients. The poor and disadvantaged are the people who most often need insulin and many of them have no insurance.
The cash price for 1000 units of NPH insulin (Relion) at our local Walmart is $27 per month for anyone— even if you have no insurance. Our protocol to manage type 2 diabetes calls for all patients to take metformin at four dollars a month regardless of their blood sugar readings. It calls for restricting sugar intake and carbs dramatically. This is a very powerful combination and it can control glucose in most patients if they do it. If that combination of diet and metformin fails to control the fasting blood sugar adequately, the best next step is to add a drug from the same class as Jardiance. Those drugs cost several hundred dollars a month. If you cannot afford that, diet, metformin, and NPH insulin together work very well. If you can take 2000 mg of metformin a day, that is very helpful. If you can’t control your sugar with metformin and diet, and you cannot afford Jardiance, you can begin NPH insulin from Walmart.
We started with 10 units at bedtime daily. Patients checked their fasting sugar every day during the adjustment period. We had them average their sugar every third day. If the average sugar was over 130, we increased the dose to 12 units daily and repeated the process. If the sugar was still high three days later, the new dose would be 14 units and so forth. If the fasting sugar falls below 80, drop 2 units daily until the sugar is over 80. Please remember that the more carbs and sugar you eat, the more insulin you will need. You don’t need to be perfect. You can enjoy a birthday party or another special event once a week. This approach provides very good glucose control for many patients for $31 a month. Cost need not be a barrier to good sugar control.
Hyperinsulinemia is the cause of severe complications of both Type I, II, and III Diabetes. Ketogenic diet is the way for the long haul. Too much insulin cause kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, amputation, and poorly maintained wounds. It is the evil of the diabetic industry.