Hi there, I’m interested in looking at options to move to Japan, however I seem to be unable to find any current and relevant information when it comes to the cost of being a type 1 diabetic in Japan for an expat.
Would be eternally grateful for information on things such as:
* Cost of insulin (Novorapid Flexpens and Tojeo Long acting)
* Cost of CGM (Freestyle libre 2)
* Cost of consumables such as needles for flexpens
* doctor costs for perspections.
Out of pocket costs is the main thing, and if their company’s health insurance covers this much and if so how much is the co-payment per month on average?
I come from Australia where the cost to service my type 1 diabetes is quite low so I’m ready to be shocked but also want a good idea before having to basically plan out medicene runs back home every 4 months…
1 comment
I can give you a little bit of info, but I don’t use a cgm so the numbers won’t be exact.
I go to a regular (non-endorinologist) clinic once a month. The monthly fee for the visit and all my prescription is around ¥13,000 to ¥15,000 depending on whether they do blood work to check A1C and all.
Also, I was switched to Toujeo maybe a year or so before I moved to Japan. I gave the clinic the list of my medications and he found equivalents of everything. I was switched from Toujeo back to Lantus. The Novolog, needles, etc are all the same just with Japanese on it.
All in all, considering how much I paid for all this in America, the prices are low for me haha. The annoying thing is going once a month as opposed to once every 3-4 months in America as prescriptions don’t have refills.