So said Freddie Mercury and Queen. And I have to want it all whether I want to or not.

Hi. My name is Stacey. And I’m a diabetic supply hoarder.

That’s tongue in cheek obviously, but all too true as well! November is Diabetes Awareness Month and it’s a perfect time to highlight the necessity of being a medical supply hoarder.  I am (currently) fortunate enough to have health coverage, but that could change at any time and definitely will for me this coming June unless I figure out a way to stay covered – with any luck, the ACA will still be in effect.

To that end, I get my prescriptions filled every month and what I do not use up, I hoard, simply put, for a day when I may not have health insurance, a natural disaster, or even a zombie apocalypse! (I refuse to be the token diabetic who will have a catastrophic low while running from the brain-eating undead, by the way.)

I take care of myself and I pay for my insurance but it’s expensive. I use the current up-to-date technology to keep me healthy. I am less of a burden on the health system than a good slice of the population, I am pretty sure. Diabetes looks like me. I’m not overweight and lazy and I did not get this disease due to anything I ate, didn’t eat, did, or didn’t do and by the way, type 2 is not exclusively a lifestyle disease either.

Pharmaceutical companies charge ridiculous amounts of money for these supplies. A bottle of insulin alone without coverage will cost you over $250 – probably more now as I’ve been lucky enough to not have to pay that full amount for a very long time. Let’s get this straight though – insulin is a drug that type 1 diabetics CANNOT live without. I’ll say it again, in case you didn’t hear me the first time – insulin is a drug that type 1 diabetics CANNOT live without. We cannot change our lifestyles and get rid of this disease. We did not ask for it. As for the other medications and supplies that keep us healthy, they cost a ton of money too – and even with insurance, I pay a ton myself out of my own pocket for them in yearly deductibles and copays. They do not need to be that expensive.

I am in favor of universal healthcare, not just for me, but for my daughter, for my sons who do not have diabetes, and for everyone. Yes, I do think healthcare is a right for all citizens. I think politicians (on both sides mind you) need to get out of bed with pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. When profits outweigh the health of the American public, that’s a problem that snowballs.

In the meantime, I will continue to stockpile. I want it all and I want it now.

Stacey Rose

Stacey Rose is a type 1 diabetic mom of 3 (one of whom also has type 1). She is writer, runner, and music lover. She lives in Massachusetts and travels to LA frequently.