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title: ""In a retail pharmacy, name-brand [diabetes glucose test] strips…"
date: 2019-03-17
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# "In a retail pharmacy, name-brand [diabetes glucose test] strips…

*March 17, 2019 · Facebook*

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[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/health/diabetes-test-strips-resale.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/health/diabetes-test-strips-resale.html){target="_blank"}
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\"In a retail pharmacy, name-brand \[diabetes glucose test\] strips command high prices. But like most goods and services in American health care, that number doesn't reflect what most people pay.\
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The sticker price is the result of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the strips' manufacturer and insurers. Manufacturers set a high list price and then negotiate to become an insurer's preferred supplier by offering a hefty rebate.\
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These transactions are invisible to the insured consumer, who might cover a copay, at most. But the arrangement leaves the uninsured --- those least able to pay --- paying sky-high sticker prices out of pocket. Also left out are the underinsured, who may need to first satisfy a high deductible.\
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For a patient testing their blood many times a day, paying for strips out-of-pocket could add up to thousands of dollars a year. Small wonder, then, that a gray market thrives. The middlemen buy extras from people who obtained strips through insurance, at little cost to themselves, and then resell to the less fortunate.\
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That was the opportunity that caught Chad Langley's eye. He and his twin brother launched the website [Teststripz.com](http://Teststripz.com){target="_blank"} to solicit test strips from the public for resale. Today they buy strips from roughly 8,000 people; their third-floor office in Reading, Mass., receives around 100 deliveries a day.\
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The amount the Langleys pay depends on the brand, expiration date and condition, but the profit margins are reliably high. For example, the brothers will pay \$35 plus shipping for a 100-count box of the popular brand Freestyle Lite in mint condition.\"\
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[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/health/diabetes-test-strips-resale.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/health/diabetes-test-strips-resale.html){target="_blank"}
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