When your feet look like this, go to the doctor.
Posted on 12/21/2009 9:55:22 AM PST by decimon
Routine self-monitoring of blood glucose levels by people with type 2 diabetes who are not taking insulin is an ineffective use of health resources as the modest benefits are outweighed by the significant cost of test strips, suggest 2 studies http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091017.pdf and http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj090765.pdf in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca .
In Ontario, blood glucose test strips are the third largest cost for the Ontario Public Drug Programs in 2007/08, accounting for $100 million or 3.3% of drug expenditures. Usage of test strips increased by almost 250% from 76,320 people in 1997 to 263,513 people in 2008. Almost 53% of people aged 65 and over with diabetes received diabetes test strips by 2008. Sixty-three per cent of patients not receiving insulin used blood glucose test strips in 2008.
"In light of the overall costs and questionable benefits of blood glucose self-monitoring in many patients, more focused policy decisions regarding test strips have been proposed in several jurisdictions," write Muhammad Mamdani of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and coauthors in a study on options to reduce test strip usage. They project that expenditures associated with blood glucose self-monitoring will exceed $1 billion in Canada and suggest policy changes could lead to cost reductions.
Stripping ping.
Coming soon to a death panel near you.
In other news preventative care visits are deemed too costly and only moderately beneficial for some patients.
Well, these are certainly not needed for a significant number of type 2s; however, there are some that would benefit. The decision should be left to doc and patient.
This self-testing is also done by those who, by dent of their heritage, are concerned about flipping over into type 2 diabetes.
I have a family history of diabetes. But I am not diabetic, just worried about not being overweight (so far, so good) or encountering from some other factor that might bring on diabetes. So, I test myself from time to time.
The commenters are right, though. Big Government Health Care will see this as something to cut in the future.
Likely so.
From the article "Usage of test strips increased by almost 250% from 76,320 people in 1997 to 263,513 people in 2008."
Because there was no or little cost to the strips. First they giveth and then they taketh away.
And possibly by Christmas.
What a bunch of morons! There are different types of type 2 and one of them is insulin resistant. My body produces insulin but the body fails to efficiently use it. Insulin will do nothing for insulin resistance. Monitoring is important because without it you don’t know if diet and exercise is working and even for those who take insulin you can’t always tell if the insulin dose is effective. Monitoring blood sugar is how I knew that diet and exercise were no longer working well and that I needed to start taking Metformin to regulate blood sugar through liver function. This is what you get when you let bureaucrats run things.
Being a patient in the VA (DAV) system with diabetes, the VA has reduced our strips to, two a week. And yet they tell me to monitor my glucose every day or two times’ per day.
This is part of the HOPE & CHANGE the younger generation has voted for.
I no longer ask God to bless America, I now use, “God Have Mercy On America” !!!!!!!!!!!!
Is there an alternate method?
Can you buy these on your own? If so then do you know what they cost?
I'm asking because I believe some open competition would probably drive down the price.
Coming soon to Amerika...’Merry Christmas’ to all you Type2 diabetics out there across the fruited plain from the Democrat Party and all their supporters! Ho, ho, ho!
Generally, test strips cost about a dollar a piece. They are actually tiny electronic devices.
Now it's back up to 7 on the same diet and exercise and she's kicking herself that she wasn't monitoring her glucose levels. Even once a day would have clued her in there might have been a problem.
When your feet look like this, go to the doctor.
Thanks. I imagine they would come to cost less with increased usage and improved manufacturing techniques. Unless, that is, they are being provided at no cost to the user.
Reminds of the cold weather hazards films they showed us in the Army. That was right before they started making us do all they’d warned us to not do.
Not an insignificant ongoing cost but not either a prohibitive cost for most people.
I did a month of comparison with the Bayer meter I was using and they were within 2-3 points of each other every time.
I take it that's good but I don't know.
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