Humulin

[Sporty]

My mother has Senior Care and Medicare. she is 81 years old, and her income is less than $20,000/year but more than $15,000. Do you kow of any resource that she might consider for purchasing Humulin 70/30? She buys these in boxes of 5 (3 ml each) and uses 50-60 units per day. Currently she is paying $130/month for Humulin. Thanks.

[dlcnurse]

Hi Sporty--

Let me do some checking for you. A few quick questions--

Is your Mother able to draw up her own insulin?

Does she use any home health services?

Does she give herself her own injections?

Is she receiving assistance with prescription insulin through the pharmaceutical companies?

[dlcnurse]

If you have not already been to this site, it is worth checking it out. Islets of Hope is a diabetes site. Lahle is the person who has the web site and she has a very nice section on assistance programs.

http://www.isletsofhope.com/pdf/diabete ... ograms.pdf

for a download on the information. She has a wealth of resources available to diabetics.
Also, I see that your Mother is purchasing the pen packs (the 3 ml- 5/box) which are a lot more costly. You can purchase Novolin 70/30 or Humulin 70/30 10ml vial for 43.00 versus the packs which run about 125.00 There are two pharmaceutical companies that do have assistance programs Eli Lily and also Novo Nordisk.
As I said, it would depend on whether she is able to draw up insulins. And if not, she may be able to qualify for passport or home health assistance to take care of her medications. There are alot of variables in answers depending on if she is able to do this herself. We can help you more if we have more information available.
Medicare does have information regarding senior citizens and diabetes assistance. I will see what I can find on it to help.

[dlcnurse]

Medicare does cover supplies for diabetics such as lancets, meters, etc. They are geared for preventive services and do pay for eye exams, check-ups and educational.

I did not find anywhere in their links section, diabetes section etc. where they will cover insulin other than what is paid through the insurance plans.

Since your Mother uses the 5 pack/3 ml's prefilled, I will see what I can come up with in a price range for you. But it will be tomorrow before I can respond further.

[jimithy]

Sporty,

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REPLY WAS CORRECTED ONCE I BECAME FULLY AWAKE. My intelligence and memory are impaired at 3-4am :-)

Almost all Prescription Assistance Programs (PAPs) exclude anyone with a Medicare Part D prescription plan, so we would probably need to work without depending upon drug company assistance. Here is an example of the extreme discrimination used by one pharm company prescription aid program for insulin.

The patient cannot have prescription insurance, be ineligible for any federal or state programs and meet income guidelines that are not disclosed. Patients who are eligible for any government program, including Part D, are not eligible for this program. Patients must also be under the age of 65.

This eliminates your mother in more than one fashion.

Probably the best method for lowering her costs is to work with knowledge of her SPECIFIC Medicare Part D prescription plan.

To do that we need to know several pieces of information.

Many such plans are called "Senior Care". Ones with the same name and issued by the same insurance company usually have substantial differences depending upon which state she lives in. We need information about the specific insurance plan she uses and the state she resides in.

Most states require that Part D insurance must have a Medicare-approved transition process for members whose condition has stabilized on medications not on the plan

[dlcnurse]

A site that may be useful to you regarding savings on medications. I find a coupon for Novolog 70/30 for a $25.00 rebate offer. The rebate is still active until 6/30/09. You can find the coupon here:

(Link no longer available) removed on 9/22/11 dlc

Or you can call Novo-Nordisk diabetes customer care number at (800)727-6500 for more information regarding insulin. They also have a few other coupons for insulin that may be of help to you.

[dlcnurse]

Links updated and edited 9/22/11 dlcnurse