Hello! New mid-twenties member seeking financial advice!

[jzblondie]

Hello everyone. My name is Julianne, I'm almost 25, and I've had Type 1 for close to 9 years now. I've been on the pump for about 3. I could rant and rave about how much better the pump has been for me, but that is not why I decided to join this forum. Just note that I am a very fit, healthy chick and my main concern is not health right now as much as financial stability.

I graduated college a few years ago, and now work in an office from 8-5, have my own apartment, all that. My family still lives in town, but since graduation I have taken care of myself in terms of medical stuff. I learned very quickly when college ended that it is a lot easier said than done. I have the second from the top tier insurance plan at work, but I STILL find myself going into worse and worse medical debt, besides all the other debt I have accrued. I have a second job bartending at night to help me stay afloat. Actually, it has been a little over two years now that I have had 2 steady jobs, and it is definitely wearing on me. Still, after insurance does what it does, I still owe Medtronic and exorbatant amount of money, and I'm not making enough to pay anything more than the minimum on that or any of my other bills!

So what do I do? Is there a place to get financial aid if you are a young professional with a chronic disease? My mother thinks there must be. She is more worried than I am, because after sending me, and now my sister through college, her and dad don't really have much left to help me with. And moving back in with them is out of the question, which leaves me with no options. All I know is I am not going to sacrifice my medical health for anything.

I noticed a teen forum here to talk about diabetes as a young person, but is there one for young professionals? It would be really helpful to find more people my age in my predicament. Any advice?

[Tokyo Cate]

Good work hanging on to two jobs, maintaining your health and keeping up-to-date on your financial responsibilities.

It would be easier to offer advice if you could say where you live as programs vary from region to region.

It is good that you have insurance. Keep that up. Are you able to change your coverage to the top tier so that more is covered by your carrier and you can budget more effectively without surprise medical expenses coming up?

I know it is truly frustrating spending so much money repaying debts that are from long ago. If you can set aside an extra $5.00, three days per week, in one year you will have been able to pay down an additional $780 of that debt just by packing a lunch/avoiding Starbucks/parking your car further from the office where you can park for free.

Something else that you could do is look at the interest rates you are being charged. Would it be more sensible to get a bank loan at a lower rate of interest to consolidate your existing debts and make a more manageable re-payment schedule (and making sure that you don't incur further debts while you are repaying that loan)?

[Chris Graham]

Does the company you work for have a cafeteria plan? You can have pre-taxed money taken out of your check and use it pay your medical bills. Talk to your HR/payroll folks.

[notme]

Reality sets in after college, but in your case this is a dose of really tough reality. My suggestion would be to get involved at your place of employment and look to see if you can possible get a HSA (health savings account) or Like Chris said, a flexible spending account. This can be a hard plan to start up, but if you can keep the spending down, in a HSA you can roll the money over to the next year. Also this money is taken out your paycheck to use on your medical bene's and the money is not taxed. We have saved money on this type of plan, but it is hard at the begining of the year because of the high deductibles.

Perhaps your mother could help by starting a savings plan with you for medical expenses.

As far as financial help, I do not know of any plans out there that help with medical expenses. Maybe someone else here knows of one.

We certainly need to do something as a nation to help people with chronic illness survive without so much stress.

[gettingby]

Hi Julianne and Welcome.
You sound like a mature young adult. Working two jobs can be hard on a person. The other posters have pretty much given you the best advice. Just hang in there. We are glad to have you with us.:)

[JediSkipdogg]

Hi Julianne. You're not to far from me, well, just a few states away. Can you maybe tell us a little about your insurance plan? What are you prescription rates and pump supply rates? Do you just owe on the pump, or do you owe on other supplies as well? Do you mind telling how much extra you still have to owe on the pump?

I think we can help you from there, because you may have excellent coverage right now and just think you don't. Diabetes is expensive no matter how you look at it. And when you have tons of other bills (I assume you live on your own) it may seem like it's even more.

If you need anything else, just ask.

[Cyborg]

Welcome aboard :wavey:

[Tsukia]

welcome to the forum
and no you are not alone I am a 22 year old canadian I am coming up on my two year wedding anniversary and my husband also has a cronic back disorder
by I can't really be much more than a shoulder to lean on as canadian and american health plans are different. I also perfer the needles or pens over the pump (my preference) but I have heard of many others like you.

Keep doing the best you can and it will work out in the end. Another thing you may consider is getting a roomate to help cut down the bills ( just an idea)

good luck

[Belinda]

I found that my insurance pays for 90 day supply on all my diabetic needs. Once I got all the scripts changed then that helped a whole bunch...also......eating out does cost bunches so does buying convenience foods (prepared , just heat and eat stuff). Best of luck to you...I think most of us can say we have been there or are there....

[Lex4153]

I'm a 22 year old college student WITH insurance and I find it very hard to pay for everything. My total copays are $140 a month and that's if I don't need to see a doctor. Each script is $20-25. It sickens me. I find it very hard some months to cover it all. I went three months without coverage once and was paying hundreds of dollars for the bare minimum supplies per month.

[kgm0612]

HI & Welcome to the forum!

Karen

[TenderVittleS]

Ask your Dr. to make your prescriptions last longer, like 90 day supplies. If you tell them that its getting expensive they'll give you more medicine with the same copayments, or get a higher paying job, also real estate, stop renting.

[blademan82002@y]

actually have your doctor write you a prescription for a year and you can get meds delivered 4 times a year every three months ny mail order and will save over half in just co pays

[JediSkipdogg]

actually have your doctor write you a prescription for a year and you can get meds delivered 4 times a year every three months ny mail order and will save over half in just co pays

Not always. My copays for 3 month supply is the month month price times 3. So for me, BG strips at the pharmacy are $15 a month or $45 for 3 months through the insurance mail order.

Also, any word if the original poster is going to reply?

[Tricia452008]

Hello everyone. My name is Julianne, I'm almost 25, and I've had Type 1 for close to 9 years now. I've been on the pump for about 3. I could rant and rave about how much better the pump has been for me, but that is not why I decided to join this forum. Just note that I am a very fit, healthy chick and my main concern is not health right now as much as financial stability.

I graduated college a few years ago, and now work in an office from 8-5, have my own apartment, all that. My family still lives in town, but since graduation I have taken care of myself in terms of medical stuff. I learned very quickly when college ended that it is a lot easier said than done. I have the second from the top tier insurance plan at work, but I STILL find myself going into worse and worse medical debt, besides all the other debt I have accrued. I have a second job bartending at night to help me stay afloat. Actually, it has been a little over two years now that I have had 2 steady jobs, and it is definitely wearing on me. Still, after insurance does what it does, I still owe Medtronic and exorbatant amount of money, and I'm not making enough to pay anything more than the minimum on that or any of my other bills!

So what do I do? Is there a place to get financial aid if you are a young professional with a chronic disease? My mother thinks there must be. She is more worried than I am, because after sending me, and now my sister through college, her and dad don't really have much left to help me with. And moving back in with them is out of the question, which leaves me with no options. All I know is I am not going to sacrifice my medical health for anything.

I noticed a teen forum here to talk about diabetes as a young person, but is there one for young professionals? It would be really helpful to find more people my age in my predicament. Any advice?

hello and welcome to the forums!! i am a 23 yr old type 1 and i know exactly what you are talking about....when i graduated from college it took me a looong time to find a real job.....and my dad lost his job and my health insurance so i had to take on CObra....so when i started working i had to pay over 600 a month just for Cobra then all of my medical supplies on top of it...and my car insurance, student loans. etc....

trust me debt is not fun...i dont know of any program like that but if there is one i will more than jump on it!! but you are not alone here....and trust me it is hard but you can do it...i have insurance now and it is still expensive but i know it is worth it and sadly better than the cobra **** i was on.,.....good luck with everything!!

[jzblondie]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I actually went to talk to my HR person about the HSA thing. It turns out, you cannot have our insurance AND the HSA at the same time. You CAN, however, have a flexible spending account added. So we are looking into that right now. I would never have thought about either of those things without this forum. I really appreciate all of it.

Basically how it has turned out is I have about $11,000 left on my car loan (and it is now only worth $4,000, so trading it in will do nothing for me), I have another $7,000 loan from CitiFinancial, 20 something left on my student loan, 2 left on my credit card, and I owe MiniMed about a thousand for my portion of the new pump I got. I pay about $350 average a month in prescriptions—the copay for my BD strips, a 2-3 month supply, is $60 because they aren’t generic!! That “generic” problem is not fixable!!

So yeah, basically I am paying interest because that’s all I can afford to pay after bills. And I live one of the cheapest apt. complexes in town because they are fully furnished and I cannot afford to buy furniture. I saw my endo last week and asked her about some sort of financial aid information, and apparently they DO have that at the hospital, but the application looks to me like it only applies to people on subsidized housing who get food stamps every month and all that. Which is great that that is an option for them, but still leaves me freaking screwed.

Who was that person who said “Or you can just get a better paying job?” Um, yeah I’ll snap my fingers and get right on that. Wish life were that easy, thanks. I AM really glad that I have found a place where I am not the only one struggling, though. As crappy as it is to just hear “Oh that sucks, good luck” from people, at least I know there are others out there like me!!

[Cyborg]

I pay about $350 average a month in prescriptions—the copay for my BD strips, a 2-3 month supply, is $60 because they aren’t generic!!

Is there change meters to switch to cheaper strips? Why are your medical costs so high?

[jzblondie]

I think another marathon email is coming on... Bare with me!

I wanted to talk a little bit about what I use for everyone to discuss :)

I got a rebate last Christmas for a free Accucheck Aviva blood testing system, which is AWESOME. Do many people use that now? I love it--you never have to worry about accidentally sticking yourself when you are trying to put the mini needle away, because it is all self-contained in this little barrel. WAY easy. I will explain below, but my new kit came with a horrible BD pen with lancets are so complicated to removed--like you have to take a top off, twist something else off, put it in, twist the top on, use it, untwist the top, take it out, put the cap back on...geez like I have time for all that! I replaced that one with the Aviva one and have never been happier.

So yeah anyway this summer I learned I had to get a new pump. Well, to be perfectly honest, my pump disappeared when I went tubing--it was triple bagged in the cooler, and we think somebody grabbed a beer and knocked it out because at the end of the day, it was not in there anymore. But it turned out that it's warranty was about to expire anyway, so I would have had to get a new one regardless.

The current Paradigm they sell, which I got, was the MiniMed Paradigm 522, which automatically comes with the Paradigm Link Blood Glucose Monitor, which directly beams your BS results to the pump. And has a whole system set up to calculate how much insulin you need per meal. This is amazing. I have the worst time calculating food, and rely on a lot of nutrition labels to make it easier. But I have been too busy with the two jobs to focus much on learning more and measuring, so this pump/kit system helps tremendously. Especially with my odd schedule, I never eat a "meal." It is always at an odd time of day, and sometimes just an apple, or a lean pocket at the office. Other times it's a sandwich or a burger or a platter from work at 11 at night. I can't plan my meals.

And that is the medical Julianne in a nutshell!

[jzblondie]

You asked about perscriptions... well I guess now that I think about it, the per month ones are a lot lower. But the big ones are pretty bad. Birth control is $20, Wellbutrin $30, Face medications last a while, but those add up to maybe $150, as I said, strips are $60, then Accucheck Multiclix refills are I think $20 or $30, I can't remember. And insulin is I think $30. It adds up. Especially with so many doctor's visits and copays. My endo is getting me in all these counting carb classes (the first one told me what a carb versus a protein does to your body and I wanted to shoot myself it was so boring!).

So insurance paid for a large chunk of that new pump, but not all of this. Hence why the current MiniMed bill is over $1000. And I haven't been able to send them a cent. And of course, this being the newest pump and kit, the strips are super expensive--$60 is my biggest copay. But like I said before, I am NOT going to compromise something relating to my health--be it acne, mental health, OR diabetes health--just because I am poor. People have priorities--I see people living in shabby houses or trailors that still have super nice cars. Or someone with a crappy car that wears only really expensive clothes. Well for me, I'd rather have all of that top notch perscription and doctor stuff, and then just not own furniture, or be able to buy groceries or winter clothes or something. And believe me, it's getting there.

I read an article about the new thing with Walmart offering generic perscriptions for $4. Does anybody know anything about this? Is there a "generic" insulin? I want to hit that up and save as much as I can, but I don't know what is on the Walmart list.

Okay enough rambling...it's back to work!

[JediSkipdogg]

There is no generic insulin but I do have some options to help you save money.

There are three insulins that can be used in the pump now. Humalog, Novolog, and Apidra. Depending on your insurance, one may be cheaper than the other in copays. Right now for me, Novolog is half the price of the other two in copays because it's a middle tiered drug on my insurance. So that's what I use in my pump.

As for the BG strips. You DO NOT have to use the BD link, not to mention they stopped production of it and will stop making strips the end of next year. THere may be another strip on your insurance that has a cheaper copay as well. Again, for me, that is Lifescan One Touch Ultra strips. I think all other brands cost twice as much. Not to mention I love the One Touch meters. Entering a BG value into the pump should take just a few seconds, so maybe ditching the BG meter for something cheaper would help.

I'm not sure when you started on your 522, but watch out about not paying it. Pump companies are very strict about getting money and if you get a few payments behind they will deny sending out your next order of supplies. Therefore, you need to watch that or you could end up in a deep hole with no way out. Just a little advice there as others on here found that out the hard way.

Hopefully that will help some. Also, have you checked to see if your insurance company has a mail order program for supplies? Many do and the supplies are cheaper that way and you get 3 months at once. Just a thought there too.