Health insurance is a necessity for anyone with diabetes. The condition requires a lot of attention and medical assistance to manage symptoms. Insulin and testing supplies are both quite costly. In addition, when something goes wrong related to diabetes, patients often require hospitalization and other procedures which can be expensive without insurance.

Thankfully, there are some tips which can help diabetics get the most effective insurance to help manage their condition:

1. Costs associated with a health insurance plan
It’s important to keep in mind that insurance plans can have a very large scope. Health insurance and life insurance can even be packaged together. It’s important to carefully go over the various costs associated with any given insurance plan. You might be surprised by what’s included or missing within any given plan. For those with diabetes, look at the aspects of the health plan that apply most to you. By going over the plan in detail you’ll be able to discover helpful offerings while also avoiding plans with unnecessary additions.

2. What diabetes specific treatments or services does the plan provide?
If you have diabetes then you’re in a niche group with specific needs. You’ll ideally want to find a plan that’s specifically tailored to those interests. It’s usually best to avoid overly broad plans and instead look for ones more focused on diabetes patients. This allows for better optimization of services, which can also in turn lead to optimized pricing.

3. Does the plan offer doctor and hospital preference?
Some plans limit you to specific doctors and even specific hospitals. This can be a huge issue for diabetics since they’re at risk for emergency situations that require immediate attention. It’s always a good idea to ensure that you’ll be able to use doctor and hospital services that are convenient to your specific needs.

4. Does the plan cover specialist referrals
Insurance for diabetics is also complicated by the fact that the condition can require specialist referrals. Endocrinologist referrals are easily the most common example. After all, diabetes is related to problems with the endocrine system. As a result, it’s important to ensure that an insurance plan doesn’t place strict limitations on specialist referrals. It’s better if there are no limitations at all on referrals, allowing you to get specialized advice for your diabetes treatments.

5. Will the plan cover diabetes specific medications
There was a time when diabetics had to gamble on whether diabetes medications would be covered by insurance. Today, the vast majority of states will adequately cover most medications (i.e., insulin) related to diabetes. It’s still important to double check and make sure that’s the case for any given insurance plan. For example, proper glucose testing is an important part of staying healthy as a diabetic. But even with a good testing device, the cost for testing strips can add up rather quickly. Having strips covered by insurance can make a huge difference in cost.