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I am 70, have type 2 diabetes. I can no longer take metformin. Because I am 70 I would have to pay full price no help from insurance. I will no longer get insurance after the first of the year. I will start Medicare. Is there a program to help with this?

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AnchorMom, I am so sorry to learn of the death of your father-in-law. It's a shame that they removed him from the drug that he was taking. This was Medicare??
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Most of the time, if the doctor stays on the Med. D. company and proves that this is the only drug that works, it will be approved. It's a hassle, but it has always been the case that drugs have been turned down by insurance companies or price out of reach. At least with Medicare there is a chance it will get covered - with persistence. We just went through such a scenario.
Carol
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A friend of mine is taking an herbal product that is working very well for him. He needed 3 shots of insulin per day, but after taking this product, he only needs one shot of insulin per day, and is still seeing improvements. It costs approximately $52 dollars per month including tax and shipping if you become a preferred customer. Great product for diabetes and other issues as well. Best of luck.
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Yes. Medicare Part D is a prescription drug plan. Open enrollment is going on now. A SHIP counselor can help you navigate thru the plans to see the best affordable one for you. Open enrollment goes until Dec 7th. Since you will be taking Medicare at the first of the year, look into it now. It will take effect on Jan 1
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This sounds like a not real question. Spam?
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Medicare did something similar to my FIL ... He was on Diabenese and it was working well for him ... His boarderline diabetese was well under control until he was told that because of his age and the length of time he was using it he would no longer get coverage for the Diabenese ... Long story short I told my MIL NOT to let them change his meds under any condition and to pay for them and go after them to cover it whatever way she could later. She folded and let them change his meds since that was so much easier ... Longer story short they changed his meds and his boarderline diabetese went off the charts. It had been under control for years with the Diabenese and Medicare wanted to change it because of his age he was on it for so long ... (Call me crazy but doesn't this sound like one of those "if it ain'r broke don't fix it scenarios?")They put him back on the Diabenese to try to get things back to normal and it didn't work ... My father in law was put into the hospital and put on insulin shots and things just spiraled down from there ... He passed away after two weeks time. That's just a little "food for thought" since the Grim Reaper comes in all disguises!
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I hope you can get subsidized health care under the Affordable Care Act then, til age 62 or 65! Some of my friends have and they can finally take care of themselves without having to wait on charity clinics or risk bankruptcy with ER trips.
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Thanks for the comments. He said there is greater risk in us older persons associated with low sugar crashes, than having a little higher Ac1. I am losing insurance because my company no longer offers it to part time employees.
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contact your local Area Agency on Aging or Bureau of Senior Services and ask to speak with a SHIP person, State Health Insurance Program, they can assist you with medicare, part D and other insurance info. I'm not sure why your doc is telling you this, you may want a second opinion. Maybe he's thinking of a particular drug and it's side effects?
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Forgot to mention, you would need to type mylifevantage/marlenecooper directly into your browser at the top of your computer. A google search or something similar would not work. Thank you.
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A friend of mine is taking an herbal product that is working very well for him. He needed 3 shots of insulin per day, but after taking this product, he only needs one shot of insulin per day, and is still seeing improvements. It costs approximately $52 dollars per month including tax and shipping if you become a preferred customer. You can get it at mylifevantage. Great product for diabetes and other issues as well. Best of luck.
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Type 2 diabetes is reversible Go online and google Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Watch the video. It's your life for cripes sake. Dr. Gabriel Cousins is another very good resource. It's raw food, vegetables and juicing. You don't have to take medicine if you do as Hypocrites suggested and "let food be your medicine."
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126Cher, sometimes I think our parents are in denial that they are in their 9th decade of their life.... and how dangerous surgery is for someone that age.
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Hi freqfler, Very good above post. It could be my parents who are both going to turn 90 soon that you are talking about. They do the exact same thing except for the mannogram. (Thank God). Now my Mother has kidney cancer for at least 15 years from what the scans say. Well not affecting her health at all. They found it when they were looking for something else. They were scanning her every 3 to 4 monthes with no change. Cancer grows slower the older you get. If it starts to grow all they can do is take her kidney out AT 90 YEARS OLD. That is not going to happen because they said that she will die on the table. Hmmmm.... so I stopped the scans at my 90 year old fathers objection. HE WANTS HER kidney out. Both parents also have dementia.
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JessieBelle, that is what my parents do... can't figure out why so many appointments when there isn't anything earthshattering. Urgent Care is great, just around the corner for me, my parents are now going to have one of the doctors there as their primary doctor. Their new doctor reminds me of Hugh Grant, I won't mind scheduling a lot of appointments for them :) Just a thought, but I won't.

Eye doctor every 6 months, same old test, same old results, nothing new to help my parents see.... no magic eyeglasses on the market.

Dermatologist, every 4 months, yep same dry skin for Mom as it was 4 months ago.... stop washing with hot water.

Previous Primary Doctor, check-up every 5-6 months [use to be ever 3 months but I would stall getting their appointments] yep still alive....

Hearing aid doctor, every 6 months, nope Mom still can't hear.... Mom it's your ears, not the hearing aid.

Oncologist, once a year, use to be twice a year. Doctor told Mom to stop coming because if she hadn't got cancer by now [97] she won't get it.... I know Mom will remind me to schedule her blood work and appointment.

Urologist, same as Oncologist...

GYN, once a year, those dreaded tests.... then appointment at the Imaging center for mammogram, really now at 97?....

Dentist, once every couple months because her denture become loose due to the fact she takes them out after eating every meal, after every snack, etc. Dentist rolls his eyes as he's been telling her for the pas 30 years, put them in and take them out ONCE A DAY. Not 6+ times a day, no wonder they are breaking.
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We have several large hospitals here, so no shortage of specialists. We can get in to see them right away. There is a shortage of PCPs. One problem I see there when it comes to older people is they schedule appointments every four months. Often the appointments are not really needed, but the schedules are full. A new patient may have to wait a month or more to get in to see a doctor. And forget about making emergency appointments with these hospital clinics. It is easier to go to urgent care. One question we need to ask is if the doctors need to schedule these automatic appointments.
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AmyGrace, one reason some doctors can't make it on their own are overhead costs for a single office.... the cost of new technology can be mind boggling.... larger practices have the latest medical testing machines that would be out of reach for single practice doctors, when shared among the doctors the costs are more affordable. Then the cost of mal-practice insurance as here in the States people are so sue happy.
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Veronica91 you are right, if you live in a more populated area there are more doctors and a little more competition among the specialists so a bit easier to see one. But still, there is sometimes a three month wait unless it is an emergency. What we are seeing is some of the doctors are no longer taking medicare any more because of the federal reduction in the amount doctors are paid. It doesn't matter if you have the supplemental advantagecare and a few others won't accept new patients. Some of our single practitioner doctors have announced they are retiring or going into group practice because they can't make it alone any more.
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i do not have diabetes, but there is always a risk with any medication. Having several heart operations for a valve, I take coumadin/warfarin a chemical invented to kill the rat population...and re-marketed as a blood thinner....

I wish you all success in getting medication you need and hope that because of your age it won't be denied...
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Veronica91, I haven't seen any wait time for myself, sig other, nor both my parents to see specialists, as of yet, we are all on Medicare. I wonder if because I live in a large metro area, with a lot of doctors, that one can always find someone highly qualitifed to see quickly.
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My mother she died from diabetes complications too. She was on meds for many years and at the end she was totally disabled. They also amputated her foot then her leg. What I see now is that the meds just delade the disease and never helped. Be cause of my research on wanting to prevent diabetes I found this one formula made from seed extracts. Lots of science research to support how it helps our bodies heal. Take a few minutes and do a google search ( seed nutrition recoverhealthnow ) I am taking for chronic pain which I no longer have thanks to this seed extract. Also I just checked the price on this drug for diabetics (Medformin 500 mg ) and with my program the estimate cost for ( 30 pill is $2.77 ) This is a very good prescription program to help you save money. So again google ( save on prescriptions deepsavings ) Especially if you are spending to much on meds.
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I am wondering and have been for some time if there is a move to make Medicare patients wait the longest for specialist appointments. With a lot of health problems I have waited up to 6 months. I can understand why because the insurance pays so little of the billed amount for the dr or hospital. I have a BCBS PPO for my Medicare coverage which as of Jan will cost $133 a month in addition to what is deducted from my SS each month.
Just like everything and everyone else we seniors have to tighten out belts and not demand expensive tests when the treatment would adversely affect our quality of life. My cardiologist is hinting at heart surgery. I will resist till I absolutely need it because I know it will take a year or more to recover from such surgery. My heart problems are not affecting my life because I could not run a mile if my life depended on it because of severe O/A. Everyone needs to educate themselves about their diseases and if they need a new drug for example for high blood pressure and an expensive one is prescribed, go talk to the pharmacist to see if something cheaper will do the job. if the Dr can't give you a good reason to use the cheaper generic find someone who will.
I know there is a lot of bad mouthing of Walmart but if you use their pharmacy and have generics prescribed a three month supply will cost $10-12. print out a copy of their formulary and take it with you to Dr appointments and tell him/her you want to use a Walmart generic. I believe Target and Walgreens pharmacies have a similar plan but we have no choice where I live. Times are hard and short of a revolution nothing is going to change so we have to adapt to our own conditions and that does mean giving up some things to survive. Nothing wrong in learning to be thrifty and making do and mending. i was born in the UK just at the start of WW11 well remember rationing of literally everything. The rule in our house was no more than three of any item of clothing. One on, one in the wash and one spare. If sheets got thin in the middle they were turned side to middle so they lasted a few more years. I would not want to go back to those days but could if I had to.
Even in the UK there has been private health insurance and private clinics for those who were lucky enough to afford it practically since the begining of the NHS in 1948.
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There is Medicare part D, but if your income is low enough you may also qualify for State assistance. There is a program called "medically needy" where I live. Sometimes you can also appeal to companies to have a drug provided for free. No guarantees, though.
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Please note, the United States has no single "nationwide system" of health insurance for all of the population. Health insurance is purchased in the private marketplace or provided by the government to certain groups such as Medicare and Medicaid. Private health insurance can be purchased from various for – profit commercial insurance companies or from non–profit insurers.

I know I am taking a choice of not going into a panic about the future of my health care or what it will be like when I am 80 [ I am 68 now].... I've read enough articles to know I have nothing to worry about.... why add to the stress we are already dealing with trying to care for our elderly parents regarding every day needs.
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I am not a doctor, but I will give you my opinion. I am a diabetic. I used to take metformin. I read a lot of bad stuff and had my VA doctor take me off. I was put on glyburide and finally insulin, too. There are other diabetic meds. I am sure there is a list what Medicare covers. I am 82 and have been a diabetic for over 20 years. I hear that is rare. My A1C has never been that low. You are doing something right.
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Whatever each person wants to believe about the changes to the health care system and whether it will or won't affect them, is up to them, and time will tell. My grandson in UK waited 6 months for a tonsillectomy (6 throat infections during that time). Another drives 100 mile round trip to see the closest doctor for diabetes. A friend in Toronto had to take 3 month LOA to move to the west coast to get radiation treatments for breast cancer because there was a 6 month wait in Toronto. In those countries there simply are not enough doctors or money to pay for the timely medical care we in the US are used to. Germany is going back to private health care from socialized medicine. Everyone has their own opinion, but based on the trend, I don't feel secure that senior medical care will be the same when I am 80. Seniors are vulnerable and in time of financial collapse they can be viewed as the most expendable citizens. Its a good idea for younger people to save for medical needs for the future.
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I do know there are going to be some cutbacks, though I don't know the full extent yet. When medicine becomes so expensive, someone does have to feel the pain. The case for the UK is not quite so extreme. Certain surgeries are denied to elderly people if they are not in good health. For example, someone with CHF or Alzheimer's would be filtered out for certain surgeries, because the benefits would not justify the cost. That said, the UK system is probably not a shining example of socialized medicine. The people are not content in general with services in England.
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In the meantime, I hope you are making every effort to manage your diabetes through your diet. When my husband was diagnosed with Type 2, his blood sugar was over 400. It is now normal. He does take 1 metformin a day but the doctor said he doesn't have to. He also lost 40 lbs in 6 months. All he did was change his diet - he drastically reduced his carb intake by removing all grain foods (bread, pasta, etc.), rice and potatoes from his diet. He now eats only meat, eggs and vegetables. If he occasionally wants a sandwich, he will use a low carb wrap. The doctor said he should limit his carb intake to 40 g. per meal; my husband keeps it under 40 for the DAY. He also takes a 30 min. walk every day.
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AmyGrace, it doesn't matter if it is a Federal election year or not. The ACA is being done in phases, and every year since the ACA began each new phase has been implemented. Example, 15 new separate phases/provisions to the ACA was put into place in 2014.... was there an Federal election last November?... No.

In October 2015 there is just one new provision "Provides for a 23 percentage point increase in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) match rate up to a cap of 100%."

In 2016, one new provision "Permits states to form health care choice compacts and allows insurers to sell policies in any state participating in the compact."
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AmyGrace, all what you are reading and hearing via political candidates are scare tactics to get your vote.

The ACA was developed to help people get affordable health insurance. The ACA has forced *junk health insurance* off the market, thus the cry from some that they could no longer keep their health insurance.... what good is junk health insurance?.... especially if you go into the hospital or the ER and find after the fact that your so called health insurance only covered $100 of the cost, and you have to pay the rest. I've read many articles about people who for the first time ever now have health insurance and they can finally visit a doctor to help with their medical issues.

Shortage of doctors? I've heard that myth for the past couple of years. There won't be a shortage unless all the medical schools worldwide close their doors.

As for extensive testing for the elderly, it doesn't make sense to put an elder through complex extensive testing if the person isn't a good candidate for major surgery or could even survive the treatment. Example, my Mom insists on getting mammograms yearly and she is 97... she very frail, thus if she had to have breast cancer surgery she would probably die on the table thus shortening her life by a year or two. Forget about chemo. So why put Mom through that very painful mammogram which takes 2 technicians to help her with the x-ray. If someone told me I didn't need mammograms any more I would shouting from the rooftops in delight.

Both my parents are in their mid-90's, and they are still getting outstanding care, plus Dad has been in the hospital several times from falls, again outstanding care... nothing has been eliminated.
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