We, The Undersigned

Recently various petitions have been circulating the Diabetes Online Community, so today let’s pretend to write our own. Tell us who you would write the petition to – a person, an organization, even an object (animate or inanimate) - get creative!! What are you trying to change and what have you experienced that makes you want this change? (Thanks to Briley of inDpendence for this topic suggestion.)

I would choose to petition insurance companies and their limits on the number of test strips they allot to each patient. This is a problem I have run into on a couple of occasions. Back when I first started college in 2008, I once ran out of test strips. My mom and I tried to call and order new strips, but CVS told us our insurance company had denied our request. We then called the insurance company who told us that I could not reorder anymore test strips at this time because I went over my prescription and had "abused" my strips. I think that is the most ridiculous response ever. How can one abuse their test strips?? I feel like insurance companies sometimes make diabetics walk a fine line between being cautious and staying healthy in hopes of preventing future complications and saving money. It's not fair. I shouldn't have to be worried about testing too many times in one day....I'm probably saving the money by keep my blood sugars in optimum range and preventing costly complications down the road....like amputations and renal disease.

It's unbelievable.

That being said, I'm petitioning larger maximum allotments of test strips per person. I'm tired of worrying about going over my monthly limit. Why should we have to worry about going over our monthly limit? Aren't we supposed to be testing often?

Why we need to test often.....