Insulin pen needles?

[juju]

Changed my insurance at the beginning of the year. I have used BD short pen needles with my insulin, 8mm x 31g. The insurance price has gone up from $5 to $50 for a box. I looked on Amazon and found a different brand, but my doctor warned me about buying from Amazon due to quality control and recommended looking for a different company, example Walmart. I looked on their website but couldn’t find what I was looking for. I tried to call my insurance company but they were no help. Does anyone here have any experience with this purchase and a recommended company?

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

Check the websites Total Diabetes Supply and also Diabetes Supply Store. I found prices at $25-$33 on those sites, but still higher than the $5 you were paying. My husband is a diabetic and we have ordered from both those sites in the past. You also may want to check the GoodRX site to see if there are lower prices on your needles elsewhere.

My husband orders test strips and lancets from Amazon and has never had a problem with the quality of these products, but he has not ordered needles from them as he wears an insulin pump.

 

[lanejudy]

WalMart's in-house brand of diabetes products is called ReliOn, but I think it's mostly just testing supplies (strips, meters, lancets, etc.) and not needles or syringes. I did find BD Ultra-Fine Pen Needles 4mm x 32g 90 count listed for $24.50 but noted as out-of-stock. That's the only pen needle I found on their OTC listings; I don't know if the pharmacy has anything different behind the counter but presumably they do.

When I look up the BD UF nano 8mm x 31g in my insurance, it shows a retail price of $51.40 at about 6 pharmacies in my area (that's all I checked). I'm thinking it's a price set by Becton Dickinson. Presumably your insurance would pay a portion of that price? My insurance pays 100% of diabetic supplies, so I can't get a good read on how much someone else might be charged.

I'd be careful of anything on Amazon that's shipping from a foreign company. A lot of what I saw there had non-English characters on the box in the picture, so I hate to say but I wouldn't trust it. Amazon Pharmacy lists the product at $54.50. I've never ordered from Amazon Pharmacy so I don't know if your insurance would cover part of that or not.