healthcare for diabetics

[artetaneville]

Hi can anyone give me advice on the costs of healthcare, the healthcare system etc when you are diabetic.
Thank you :)

[ian mc]

there is a group here for diabetics and you can get cheep prescriptions from them they club together and buy in bulk.

[cliffy]

Plenty of information here :NDSS - Diabetes Australia
There are also diabetic nurses at many health centres who do the health reviews every 6 months.

[foxychick]

seems a pretty good system with clinics in the hospital (which sometimes appear to have longish waiting lists) and the NDSS provides a great service with greatly reduced prescription charges, your doctor has to refer you to the programme I think. There also seems to have been a lot more NDSS chemists opening up, so greater convenience, 2 years ago there was only 1 near me, now I see quite a few. I was lucky and only had gestational diabetes, can't remember all the costs, had a test machine on loan, but they don't seem so expensive to buy. you should be able to find price info for consumables on the link cliffy provided.

[artetaneville]

Thanks alot everyone for the information :)

[andy and lindsey]

A friend of mine is iddm and she said she was pleasantly suprised at the cost of insulin. I seem to remember that she thought lancers and strips were expensive though so bring them. For iddm they are very pro insulin pumps rather than daily injections. Hope that helps