As an addition to my video blog, I wanted to give you some specific numbers about the expenses incurred on these prescriptions by the mail order pharmacies. I’m sure some will question my numbers, so I wanted to tell you specifically where I got them, and how I gave the mail order pharmacies the absolute benefit of the doubt on the price by posting the LOWEST charge they would have reasonably made.

For the diabetes testing supplies –

Medicare allowables –

Meter - $71.77 each

Lancing devices - $16.71 each

Control solution - $9.99 each

Lancets - $10.14 each (mail-order pricing, not retail)

Strips (box of 50) - $30.31 each (mail-order pricing, not retail)

Syringes (box of 100) - $28.00 each (Medicaid pricing, as Medicare doesn’t pay)

Novolin 70/30 - $78.70 each (Average Wholesale Price)

For the prescription medications, I went FAR out of my way to give the benefit of the doubt by pricing those that are on the Wal-Mart $4/month or $10/3 months program at that rate –

Allopurinol 100mg - $10/90 tabs

Atenolol 50mg - $4/30

Atenolol 100mg - $10/90

Citalopram 40mg - $10/90

Glimepiride 4mg - $10/90

Lisinopril/HCTZ 20/12.5 - $10/90

Metformin 1000mg - $10/180

For these prescription medications, I priced them using the Oklahoma Drug Card (a discount card), and priced it at the lowest price that could be found at a local competitor by using that card –

Amlodipine 10mg - $30.17/30

Sertraline 50mg - $13.10/30

Simvastatin 80mg - $9.31/30

Lastly, there was one over-the-counter product that I priced just as it would have been off the shelf, with no markup –

Aspirin 81mg - $1.19/120

Several of the prescription medications had more than a year's worth of oversupply.