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Medicare program to reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors

Category: Diabetes

Seniors who use blood glucose tests to monitor their health are probably well informed about the kind of work that goes into to ensuring overall wellness, especially when coping with a condition like Type 2 diabetes.

In addition to taking the right treatments and using lab tests online whenever possible to get an overall sense of their health, seniors are often eager to save money where they can in other ways. On July 1, they'll be able to benefit from new measures by Medicare.

Beginning next month, those who qualify for Medicare and who are affected by Type 2 diabetes will qualify for a cost-saving program that helps reduce the price of some much-needed treatments.

In order to reap the benefits of this service, individuals will need to order their supplies through a national mail-order program or a Medicare-approved pharmacy, HealthDay News reported.

"We're hopeful that approved providers for diabetic testing supplies will offer people a better value for their needed mail-order purchases and ensure that consumers and taxpayers are getting the best price for their supplies," said Ariel Gonzalez, director of federal health and family advocacy for AARP.

According to the news source, right now individuals with Type 2 diabetes and Medicare receive about $77.90 worth of medical supplies, including 100 blood sugar test strips and lancets. The latter are needles that people use to draw a drop of blood, per month.

Recipients are expected to pay about 20 percent of this overall expense, which can amount to roughly $15.58 per month. However, with the new program that will take effect, the cost of Medicare supplies will drop to $22.47 and each Medicare recipient will only be expected to pay roughly $4.50.

This is the result of a competitive bidding process that was established in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.