All of the world diabetes day posts got me thinking, how much have I paid out of pocket to keep myself alive since diagnosis in 1999? So I cranked out a spreadsheet to tally an estimate of expenses over the years and was SHOCKED to see the total at almost $60k!!! With 21 years of T1D in the books, that works out to an annual average of about $2,600!!!
Other than a sum total of perhaps two weeks, I have been fortunate to have had health insurance coverage almost the entire period that I have had T1D. My calculations include co-pays for medications & supplies (pump since 2000; CGM since 2013), healthcare visits directly related to diabetes, hospitalizations for either DKA or low BGs (6 total trips over the years), and any other out of pocket expenses. The total figure does NOT include health insurance premiums, as I would have carried coverage whenever possible even without diabetes.
I figured today would be a good day to share this realization with the community and help raise awareness for just another aspect of how much this disease affects us.
So r/diabetes, has anyone else been curious enough to tally what they have spent on this disease?
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