An Orillia resident has grown frustrated with the options available to treat his diabetes — and the lack of government support for a solution that works for him.
Harry Little, 83, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in early 2021, and he has been using a flash glucose monitoring system to track his blood sugar since.
The system works by taking readings off a sensor placed on the back of a patient’s arm, as opposed to the conventional finger-prick system that measures glucose levels through blood.
Because Little also takes blood thinning medication, he does not use the finger-prick system for fear of 'over-bleeding' – an issue he has faced in other areas of his life.
“One night I sat down in my office chair and ... my arm was wet,” he told OrilliaMatters. “It was blood all over the arm of the chair. I didn't even know I was hurt, and there was just a tiny little pinprick.”
The system he uses is only covered by OHIP when a patient also takes insulin, which Little does not require.
He said he has begun looking into whether his private insurance will cover the flash glucose system, but even if it does he would like to see the system more broadly covered by OHIP.
“I would like to see it covered. I don't know why they make the exclusion,” he said. “They say you have a choice. Well, maybe, I guess you have a choice of bleeding to death, if you're on blood thinners, or checking your glucose.”
The flash glucose system he’s been using, Abbott Laboratories’ Freestyle Libre, does not come cheap.
Each glucose sensor lasts two weeks, and Little said he spends around $200 per month on the product, with prices ranging around town from $88.99 per unit at Costco, and upwards of $115 at other locations.
Little said he is aware of only one other flash glucose system readily available in Orillia, but it comes in at a higher price than the one he uses, and the sensors only last for 10 days.
“As of this point, I'm on my own, and have been since the very beginning,” Little said. “I would like to be able to spend $200 a month on other things, but if I gotta do it to keep me alive, that's where it goes.”
He also mentioned a number of his sensors have been defective over the last couple of years, producing error readings on multiple occasions, even though Little said he carefully follows the instructions.
While Abbott Laboratories previously sent him replacement sensors, he said the company recently stopped doing so.
“I even changed readers just to make sure everything was as it was,” he said. "They failed … and when I called they said they weren't going to replace them anymore. It's company policy.”
Though Little has been able to afford the system out of pocket, he noted that not everyone can.
“If you get to be old enough, and can afford it, you can keep getting older,” he said. “If you can't afford it, well, I guess you die.”
Abbott Laboratories and Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication of this article.
