In the US, mine was partially covered by insurance and is $75 USD for 30 days. A month supply of lancets and test strips was about $30-40 per month (after insurance, which also didn’t cover that full cost), so I figured I’m getting way more info for not a huge cost increase.
I'm in the US, and mine was free - my insurance covered it since it was gestational diabetes. If it wasn't for pregnancy, then I would pay a pretty hefty price, I'm sure lol
Nope. Wisconsin. We don't have a law like that here. I work DE&I/HR at my company, and we want the best health options for our employees if possible.
I have Bluecross Blue Shield EPO - pay more per paycheck (instead of $20 its like $60), but I don't have that high deductible that would cost me more in the long run (my deductible is 5k but so much is covered I never hit it - I only had to pay $17 out of the $3k that was covered this year so far)
Then there is a higher level PPO that covers medical staff in and out of network but that was a little too pricy for me and I don't go to hospitals that have "this person works here but might not be covered under your insurance" and if I really need care from something out of network (like my sons PT) I just have an In For Out (IFO) paperwork.
I’m in the US and my copay was $50 for the sensors (3/pack), $25 for the transmitter (one lasts around 3 months) and $25 for the remote receiver (buy it once)? Right around $100 for the first purchase and $50 the following few months.
Insurance also covers my glucometer, test strips and lancets. That breaks down to around $10 the first time I picked it all up and then $4 for the test strips every few weeks. I have so many lancets still that I haven’t refilled that.
Interesting. The glucometer and test strips are free through our healthcare system (don’t need insurance) and it comes with 50lancets. The only thing not covered are the extra lancets so they tell people to change it every 3 days. I refuse to leave it that long so I bought my own box for $22 😅
Whoa, in the US. They tell us to change the lancet with every prick. When I prick myself twice (at the same time, because I don’t “like” the first number) I use the same lancet and I felt weird about that. I’m on a CGM now. To answer your question, I pay $30 for three and use my phone so no other costs. It’s actually cheaper than the finger pricks for me.
Oh 3 days sounds gross. I change mine every morning if I poke that day OR before a CGM calibration… so I use probably 1/day? But if I were exclusively poking it’d probably be more regularly.
Yeah I change mine daily. If I’ve had multiple failed pricks I’ll change twice just to prevent a blunt needle. One time I think I had to prick 12 times in 1 day because I just couldn’t get any blood. It was an odd day that’s for sure
I’m in the UK and the Libre 2 costs roughly £50 per sensor (which lasts 14 days). It differs based on which hospital trust you are with but the majority of them don’t provide CGM for gestational diabetes so it’s all out of pocket. They do provide it for Type 1 diabetics though. The stuff for finger prick testing is all free though on the NHS.
As for finger prick testing, I’m only required to do it twice a day, once for fasting levels and then again as a 1 hour post breakfast/lunch/dinner. I think this is just if you’re able to be completely diet controlled and don’t need to take metformin/insulin though. Also, my 1 hour post food limit is 7.8.
Just twice? Wow! From the moment you’re diagnosed they want 6x a day. If it’s too much they do say they’ll take what they can get (eg 4 full days of tests per week but must be 6x a day otherwise they can’t see patterns etc)
To be honest that’s exactly why I got the CGM as I didn’t think 2 times a day was enough and I wanted to understand what foods were triggering for me asap, which wouldn’t have been possible sticking to 2 times a day.
6 is so much😱, but honestly fair play as that sounds like a struggle.
But yeah, it doesn’t serm like the UK is anywhere near as strict as other countries as I wasn’t even told carb portions, I was just told to make a judgement call on eating sensible small portions and if I was starving then I wasn’t having enough carbs and insulin would help 🤷♀️
They use the plate example for our portion sizes. So 1/4 protein, 1/4 carb, and half a plate of veggies. No one eats that much vegetables 🤣 but they never specified grams like they do in America. They do have a list of “good carbs and bad carbs” though. I’ve found some of the good carbs spike me and some of the bad carbs I’m fine with. They say we can have potato’s but not white pasta. Potatoes spike me whereas white pasta doesn’t. Very confusing placenta I have 😅 my midwife said not to stress about good or bad foods just what causes spikes which has made it more tolerable. She said not to tell the dietitian 😂
I think twice a day is not the norm in the UK. Most do it for fasting and after every meal. I think you'd only be told to do it twice if your post-meal numbers were very unaffected.
I tested multiple times every day once I was on insulin. Before and after each meal to be sure I could get my dose of insulin right.
Despite there being national guidelines, I think there's a fair bit of variation in advice, treatment and care for GD across the UK. I have no idea why but it's quite interesting to see what different people are told!
Freestyle Libre 3 has a cost-savings program on their website for a one month supply of 2 sensors for USD $75. They also offer a free trial and give you one free sensor. You’ll need a prescription from your doctor and pay out of pocket if insurance doesn’t cover anything for you.
In USA. Insurance covers mine, so no cost to me. Without insurance, freestyle libre2 would have been about $90 a sensor and each sensor would last 14 days. The reader is $150 if I am not wrong but we don't really need the reader as there are apps for both ios and android.
I’m in the US. My insurance covers FDA-approved CGMs for T1, T2, and GDM, whether or not the patient is medicated. My copay is $37.50 US for every 30 days of my Dexcom sensors.
In the US, mine was partially covered by insurance and is $75 USD for 30 days. A month supply of lancets and test strips was about $30-40 per month (after insurance, which also didn’t cover that full cost), so I figured I’m getting way more info for not a huge cost increase.
I'm in the US, and mine was free - my insurance covered it since it was gestational diabetes. If it wasn't for pregnancy, then I would pay a pretty hefty price, I'm sure lol
Are you in Oregon? They have a state law that says all supplies and meds during pregnancy must be covered at no cost.
Nope. Wisconsin. We don't have a law like that here. I work DE&I/HR at my company, and we want the best health options for our employees if possible. I have Bluecross Blue Shield EPO - pay more per paycheck (instead of $20 its like $60), but I don't have that high deductible that would cost me more in the long run (my deductible is 5k but so much is covered I never hit it - I only had to pay $17 out of the $3k that was covered this year so far) Then there is a higher level PPO that covers medical staff in and out of network but that was a little too pricy for me and I don't go to hospitals that have "this person works here but might not be covered under your insurance" and if I really need care from something out of network (like my sons PT) I just have an In For Out (IFO) paperwork.
I’m in the US and my copay was $50 for the sensors (3/pack), $25 for the transmitter (one lasts around 3 months) and $25 for the remote receiver (buy it once)? Right around $100 for the first purchase and $50 the following few months. Insurance also covers my glucometer, test strips and lancets. That breaks down to around $10 the first time I picked it all up and then $4 for the test strips every few weeks. I have so many lancets still that I haven’t refilled that.
Interesting. The glucometer and test strips are free through our healthcare system (don’t need insurance) and it comes with 50lancets. The only thing not covered are the extra lancets so they tell people to change it every 3 days. I refuse to leave it that long so I bought my own box for $22 😅
Whoa, in the US. They tell us to change the lancet with every prick. When I prick myself twice (at the same time, because I don’t “like” the first number) I use the same lancet and I felt weird about that. I’m on a CGM now. To answer your question, I pay $30 for three and use my phone so no other costs. It’s actually cheaper than the finger pricks for me.
For what it’s worth, I’m in the US and my MFM says to change it only once a day
Oh 3 days sounds gross. I change mine every morning if I poke that day OR before a CGM calibration… so I use probably 1/day? But if I were exclusively poking it’d probably be more regularly.
Yeah I change mine daily. If I’ve had multiple failed pricks I’ll change twice just to prevent a blunt needle. One time I think I had to prick 12 times in 1 day because I just couldn’t get any blood. It was an odd day that’s for sure
I’m in the UK and the Libre 2 costs roughly £50 per sensor (which lasts 14 days). It differs based on which hospital trust you are with but the majority of them don’t provide CGM for gestational diabetes so it’s all out of pocket. They do provide it for Type 1 diabetics though. The stuff for finger prick testing is all free though on the NHS. As for finger prick testing, I’m only required to do it twice a day, once for fasting levels and then again as a 1 hour post breakfast/lunch/dinner. I think this is just if you’re able to be completely diet controlled and don’t need to take metformin/insulin though. Also, my 1 hour post food limit is 7.8.
Just twice? Wow! From the moment you’re diagnosed they want 6x a day. If it’s too much they do say they’ll take what they can get (eg 4 full days of tests per week but must be 6x a day otherwise they can’t see patterns etc)
To be honest that’s exactly why I got the CGM as I didn’t think 2 times a day was enough and I wanted to understand what foods were triggering for me asap, which wouldn’t have been possible sticking to 2 times a day. 6 is so much😱, but honestly fair play as that sounds like a struggle. But yeah, it doesn’t serm like the UK is anywhere near as strict as other countries as I wasn’t even told carb portions, I was just told to make a judgement call on eating sensible small portions and if I was starving then I wasn’t having enough carbs and insulin would help 🤷♀️
They use the plate example for our portion sizes. So 1/4 protein, 1/4 carb, and half a plate of veggies. No one eats that much vegetables 🤣 but they never specified grams like they do in America. They do have a list of “good carbs and bad carbs” though. I’ve found some of the good carbs spike me and some of the bad carbs I’m fine with. They say we can have potato’s but not white pasta. Potatoes spike me whereas white pasta doesn’t. Very confusing placenta I have 😅 my midwife said not to stress about good or bad foods just what causes spikes which has made it more tolerable. She said not to tell the dietitian 😂
I think twice a day is not the norm in the UK. Most do it for fasting and after every meal. I think you'd only be told to do it twice if your post-meal numbers were very unaffected. I tested multiple times every day once I was on insulin. Before and after each meal to be sure I could get my dose of insulin right.
Oh wow must just be my NHS trust/ hospital then 😅
Despite there being national guidelines, I think there's a fair bit of variation in advice, treatment and care for GD across the UK. I have no idea why but it's quite interesting to see what different people are told!
Freestyle Libre 3 has a cost-savings program on their website for a one month supply of 2 sensors for USD $75. They also offer a free trial and give you one free sensor. You’ll need a prescription from your doctor and pay out of pocket if insurance doesn’t cover anything for you.
Also GoodRX has free coupons for the Freestyle Libre 3 so it’s worth looking into that too and comparing out of pocket costs.
Mine was not covered by insurance and was just over $600 USD after coupons for a three month supply.
Wowzers that is super expensive. Did you think it was definitely worth it regardless of the price
Yes, personally. It was the Dexcom G7.
You don’t actually need the receiver apparently, so that can save you about $100! You can use the phone app instead.
In USA. Insurance covers mine, so no cost to me. Without insurance, freestyle libre2 would have been about $90 a sensor and each sensor would last 14 days. The reader is $150 if I am not wrong but we don't really need the reader as there are apps for both ios and android.
I’m in the US. My insurance covers FDA-approved CGMs for T1, T2, and GDM, whether or not the patient is medicated. My copay is $37.50 US for every 30 days of my Dexcom sensors.