Sell Test Strips: Selling Diabetes Test Strips is Legal
We field a lot of questions over whether it’s legal to sell your diabetes test strips. Short answer: yes. We’re sharing the details here.
Over 29 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes in America. Some 8.1 million people are undiagnosed.
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, and it’s thought that many diabetes-related deaths go unreported. In one recent study, it was revealed that up to half of adults in America are diabetic or prediabetic.
Sobering thoughts, indeed.
If you have diabetes, you’ll know how living with the condition can have a seriously negative impact on your life.
And if you are a diabetic who constantly needs to monitor your blood sugar levels, you will no doubt be acutely aware, of just how important test strips come to be in your life.
The Importance of Test Strips
Having a supply of test strips is absolutely essential if you are to manage your condition effectively. In fact, for many people who suffer from diabetes, test strips are so much more than important. Rather, they are an indispensable part of life.
As a diabetic, you’ve probably heard from one source or another about selling test strips. And, you’ve probably wondered a few things about the process. We know this because, as an organisation committed to helping the lives of diabetics, we field a lot of questions about selling test stripsevery single day.
Now, we are asked a lot of questions. But, without exception, the main query that constantly appears front and centre is this one:
“Is it legal to sell my test strips?”
The short answer to this is yes. The long answer is also yes.
Forget everything you have heard up to this point, and let’s delve a little deeper. Read on to discover everything you need to know about selling test strips legally:
Sell Test Strips – How is it Legal?
Selling your test strips is perfectly legal, and you can end up helping other diabetics along the way.
It is completely legal to sell your test strips because, by nature, test strips can be bought over the counter in any drugstore or pharmacy. You can purchase them off the shelf without a prescription.
Any product that you have purchased over the counter at a pharmacy can be sold by you, even if that product was prescribed. The same is true if you were given your test strips a gift – they are yours to do with whatever you wish.
Are there any exceptions?
This is the real world, so yes, of course, there are exceptions to every rule. But, in this case, there are only a couple.
Here they are:
- If your test strips are paid for by Medicaid or Medicare, it is illegal to sell them. This is because your strips are paid for by the government and not yourself. If this is the case, there will always be a red strip on your box indicating that they are for Medicaid or Medicare patients only.
- It is against the law to sell your glucose strips if you yourself have not acquired them legally.
But, why would I want to sell test strips?
Selling your test strips is a win-win for you. You get some extra cash in your pocket, and you get to help other people who suffer from diabetes.
The soaring cost of health care has put a lot of essential medical items out of the reach of many people. Some people cannot afford to buy test strips over the counter due to many factors like unemployment and poverty. Many others have no health insurance and some are underinsured
When you sell test strips, you’re essentially recycling items that you are not going to use, and other people will gain the benefit.
Why would I have unused test strips?
Many people who have diabetes may have unused boxes of test strips sitting around in their home catching flies or gathering dust.
How can this be?
There are many reasons why you would have test strips that are surplus to your requirements. Many of the people who sell their test strips have shared with us some of the reasons they have boxes of strips that they don’t need.
Here are some of those reasons:
- While some diabetics have to monitor their glucose levels constantly throughout the day, many others do not. The amount of strips that are required on a daily basis varies from one patient to another.
- Some people need to switch health insurance from time to time and this sometimes means that a different set of strips are needed.
- In other instances, a change of machine may be required. As you may know, some machines are not compatible with specific test strips and in cases like these, diabetics may have excess test strips.
- In some good news cases, the cause of diabetes may be such that lifelong monitoring is not required. For example, some women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes in pregnancy but the health issue improves or clears up after birth. In a situation like this, there may be some unused test strips.
What happens to my unwanted test strips?
When you choose to sell your unwanted test strips, we redistribute them to people who, under normal circumstances, cannot afford to purchase them.
We sell discarded test strips at cost or we give them free to people with diabetes within a 25mile radius of our base, Beaumont-Port Arthur (Texas). Outside of that, we resell those test strips at 75% – 80% below retail prices.
Is there anything else I need to know?
Just a word on housekeeping.
When you choose to sell your strips, you must ensure that they are in closed, sealed boxes. We also need those strips to be six months from expiration from today. We cannot accept your test strips if they have already been used or if they have been compromised in any way.
Sweet deal, right?
So, there you have it. The news is in and it’s pretty awesome.
Selling your diabetes test strips is completely legal.
It’s also hugely beneficial, not just to you but to other people who suffer from diabetes too.
It is possible to help yourself while helping others. Selling your test strips puts some extra money in your pocket and it helps others to acquire strips they so badly need.
A good outcome for you and a great result for someone else. Not a bad day’s work, wouldn’t you agree?