How to Save Money on Diabetes Treatment

Diabetes is dangerous for your life and a pocket burner i.e. the cost of medications and other supplies for diabetes treatment affects your savings. And with rising inflation, you should always look for saving money on each and every thing you buy such as groceries, insurance, living expenses and so on. And when it comes to diabetes, you have to make multiple visits to doctors, take daily dose of medicine, frequent blood sugar tests and many more which inflates your medical bills. But there are various ways you can save money on diabetes treatment. So what are these cost effective secrets? Let’s check it out:

Generic Medicines for Diabetes

Generic drugs are very cheap as compared to prescription drugs but still offer same quality. So while visiting your doctor always ask for generic drug. Buying these medicines will definitely help to save money on diabetes medicines. In India, generic medicines can be purchased from Jeevandhara Stores and Akunuri Medicals, Hyderabad. In case generic drug is not available, the ask your doctor for an alternate medicine from different brand which costs less. Government of Rajasthan offers generic anti-diabetic drug. (Refer Sr. No. 423 onwards on the link)

Online Discounts on Diabetes Supplies

You many not be aware that there are large number of discounts available on diabetic products such as test strips, slippers, glucose meters and others on sites such as amazon.in and flipkart.com. But make sure you read reviews while buying any of these products be it online or in store. In fact you should buy medicines online as you can get discounts and sometimes other free stuffs along with the medicines.

Buy Truworth G-30 Glucometer from Flipkart.com at Rs.575
DAB MSG Slippers for Diabetics at Rs.1950 from Amazon
EZ Smart 606 Glucometer test strips, 25 Strips at Rs.395 from Amazon

Buy Medicines in Bulk: Diabetic patients often have to take medicines everyday depending on the type and condition as prescribed by the doctors. So instead of buying common medicines in small numbers, buy them in bulk as you can get discounts. But please check the expiry date while buying medicines in bulk. In United States, there are associations which offers financial assistance and affordable medications as www.pparx.org, www.needymeds.org, www.rxoutreach.org.

Stay Away from Gimmicky Offers: To lure diabetes sufferers, companies often market their products with fake promises such as diet free soda, sugarless products etc which can have reverse effect on your health. So instead of buying such products go for homemade meals and home remedies.

Home Remedies: Controlling the blood sugar level can prevent diabetes from reaching you. Vegetables such as bitter gourd, cinnamon, amla should be a part of your daily diet. Here’s how you should make use of these:

• Bitter Gourd: Extract the juice from the seeds of bitter gourd (3-4 in quantity) and mix in a glass of water and drink this every morning. You’ll see a significant change in blood sugar level. You can also cook it and have it in your meal.
• Cinnamon: Drinking 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon in warm water lowers the blood sugar level.
• Amla (Indian Gooseberry): Combined mixture of amla and bitter gourd juice when taken daily helps in controlling the blood sugar level.

(Note: Always consult your doctor while using any kind of home remedies/diet)

Diet: Healthy and balanced food habit is the most essential step in controlling and prevention of diabetes. What you eat reflects on your health. There are many books on diabetes recipes/meal plans available online. Buy them once and it’ll last for years.

Buy Diabetes Diet Plan with Diabetic Meals at Rs. 682
Buy Diet, Diabetes and You (English)at Rs. 147 from Flipkart.com
Healthy Indian Cooking for Diabetes (New) at Rs. 297 from Sanjeev Kapoor

Yoga: Increase in blood sugar is directly related to increase in stress, weight and blood pressure. Controlling these three factors will definitely reduce the chances of getting diabetes. You can get trained by a yoga certified professional or also watch videos online and then practice on your own. But basic stress buster yoga such as pranayama can be done at home as well. Watch out this video on Yoga for diabetes:

Exercises: Keeping weight in control is the key to control diabetes. People these days invest money going to gym? Instead watch videos on youtube.com and practice the same everyday at home. And you don’t have to perform very rigorous fitness regime. Even basic exercises along with strict diet regime can give you fruitful results for sure. Ask your doctor whether such basic exercises are sufficient in weight control. If not, then join a gym. But you can still save money by taking membership at gym. Paying money once instead of every month can also save you money.

Take Insurance: Buying insurance policy for diabetes care is highly recommended. Most of these policies cover complications in diabetic patients and also cover hospitalization expenses for any other medical ailments which is a very big advantage as complications arising due to diabetes can further increase medical expenses. In India, Star Health, ICICI Prudential and Apollo Munich.

Diabetes Day – Free Test: Every year on World Diabetes Day on 14th November, free medical check-ups are held. So you and your family should definitely get enrolled.