Billions of dollars in sealed, unexpired diabetic supplies are discarded or forgotten in American households each year. At the same time, 38.4 million Americans with diabetes face rising out-of-pocket costs for the same products. The disconnect between supply surplus and affordability has created a growing secondary market, and exposed a policy gap that neither insurers, pharmacies, nor regulators have addressed.
How Diabetic Supply Surplus Accumulates Across the U.S.
The surplus problem originates from multiple structural points in the diabetes care system, none of which have built-in correction mechanisms.
Insurance Auto-Refill Programs and Overshipping
Insurance-mandated 90-day auto-refill programs ship supplies on fixed schedules regardless of patient need. Patients who switch medications, change doctors, adjust dosages, or enter hospice continue receiving shipments, sometimes for weeks after the supplies become unnecessary. Pharmacies cannot legally accept returns on dispensed products, and insurers have no standard process for reclaiming or redirecting paid inventory.
Medication Transitions and the GLP-1 Shift
The rapid adoption of GLP-1 receptor agonists, Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy, moved millions of Type 2 diabetes patients away from traditional insulin therapy between 2022 and 2025. Each transition left behind weeks or months of unused insulin pens, test strips, and pen needles with 12 to 18 months of remaining shelf life.
The Scale Nobody Tracks
No federal agency measures the volume of unused diabetic supplies discarded annually. According to the CDC's National Diabetes Statistics Report, 38.4 million Americans have diabetes. The American Diabetes Association estimates annual diabetes-related healthcare costs at $412 billion. Within that spending, a significant but unmeasured portion covers supplies that patients never use.
The Affordability Crisis on the Other Side of the Surplus
While sealed supplies sit unused, the affordability crisis remains severe for patients without adequate insurance coverage.
Insulin Rationing Persists Despite Policy Changes
One in four Americans using insulin reports rationing doses due to cost, according to ADA survey data published in 2023. The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin copays at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare-negotiated drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act take effect in 2026. These changes improve affordability for seniors, but leave roughly 22 million working-age adults navigating a market where insulin list prices remain above $300 per vial without insurance.
Test Strip Costs Hit Uninsured Patients Hardest
Yale School of Medicine research documented that insulin prices rose more than 300% over 20 years in the United States. Test strip pricing followed a similar trajectory. A single box of brand-name test strips costs $80 to $150 at retail without coverage. For patients between jobs or on high-deductible plans, daily blood glucose monitoring becomes a recurring financial burden.
How the Buyback Industry Fills a System Gap
A growing segment of the healthcare secondary market has emerged to bridge the surplus-to-need pipeline: diabetic supply buyback services.
How the Buyback Model Works
These companies purchase sealed, unexpired supplies from individuals, caregivers, patients who switched treatments, families managing estates, and redistribute them at reduced prices. The process follows three steps: sellers receive an online quote based on product type and expiration date, ship supplies using a prepaid label, and receive payment via PayPal or check after inspection confirms factory-sealed condition.
Who Sells and Why
According to Diabetics Trust, a nationwide buyback service operating across all 50 states, more than half of sellers are caregivers or family members dealing with surplus after a loved one changed medications or passed away. Common items include sealed CGM sensors, Dexcom G7 kits, insulin pen cartridges, and unopened lancet boxes.
What Policy Gaps Remain in Diabetic Supply Redistribution
No single entity in the healthcare chain has a financial incentive to solve the surplus problem.
State Programs Are Limited in Scope
Several states have enacted drug repository programs that allow donation and redistribution of certain unused medications, but coverage remains inconsistent. Most state programs do not cover diabetic testing supplies or CGM sensors. Patient advocacy organizations including the ADA have called for expanded redistribution frameworks, particularly for high-cost diabetes technology where individual units can cost $300 to $500 without insurance.
Media Contact
Company Name: Diabetics Trust
Contact Person: James Mary
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: https://diabeticstrust.com/
