The average person with diabetes spends more than $13,000 in medical care annually while the typical person without diabetes only spends approximately $3,000 per year on health care. While this cost sounds high, the toll of uncontrolled blood glucose levels and associated complications is a lot higher. Think of all the prescriptions, lab work, and doctor's visits as a form of preventive maintenance.

Free diabetes supplies are provided to those who cannot afford to purchase them. There are also some insurance companies that provide these services. In fact, the majority of diabetes service companies are affiliated with health insurance companies, which is why you can get free diabetes.

So, how do you get free diabetes supplies? Most companies that focus on providing health services and supplies for diabetics give out free supplies and will even ship them at no extra cost. However, you need to be covered by health insurance. Once you are covered, you will have to find a medical supply company that has either free or low cost diabetes supplies. Most of these places will deliver your supplies directly to your home for free.

Testing is important for diabetics because carefully monitoring blood glucose can give valuable information, helping to obtain great control which can seriously delay the progression of long term diabetic complications. Blood glucose is easy to monitor at home, using thumb prick blood tests. Many people who test this way daily do not actually understand how serious and important it is for them to do so. Frequent monitoring can answer a lot of questions about diet and exercise, and what is happening over a long term period. Not only can monitoring blood glucose allow the diabetic control of his or her day to day - It can also indicate changes over time and help predict long term complications.

Health experts say that the ultimate goal of diabetics should be to get their blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible. However, if you have any medical conditions that affect your ability to control your glucose level, then these levels may be a bit higher. Therefore, it is important that you always have reliable blood glucose monitors, meters and other equipment so that you can check your present blood sugar levels. Of course, this can be very costly because you have to pay for blood glucose monitors and test strips. It is actually these test strips that can leave a big hole in your pocket, which is why free diabetes supplies are very much appreciated by many diabetics.

You should know that free diabetes supplies are safe to use as long as they have not expired because if they are expired they can be dangerous because they may not detect your glucose levels accurately. Even if you decide to purchase large quantities of your supplies they will still cost you a lot of money, which is why it is advantageous to try to get them for free if you can.