HEALTHY LIVING
Build a better health care budget
(Family Features) Managing a chronic disease takes plenty of special planning and attention, and in many cases, a lot of money. In some cases, the expenses associated with disease management are overwhelming, forcing patients to skip essential treatments or medication and risk serious health complications.
One example is diabetes. A study published in the “Journal of American Medicine” found that 1 in 4 individuals with diabetes had rationed their insulin, which can impact short- and long-term health. Since 2002, the list price of insulin has risen, often costing customers without health insurance or on high-deductible insurance plans upwards of $1,000 for a one-month supply.
Consider these ideas to help manage the expense associated with a chronic disease:
1. Health Insurance
Whether you have a chronic condition or you’re generally healthy, it’s important to understand the different types of health insurance available to you. Commercial health plans can be purchased by anyone and may be available through your employer, or you may be eligible for government-funded health care, but there are numerous other options and variables to consider.
Understanding the costs associated with insurance plans means taking into account both your monthly premium and out-of-pocket costs like co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles. When choosing a plan, decide whether you’d rather pay a higher amount each month (premium) and less when you see the doctor (co-pays, co-insurance or deductible), or if you’d prefer to pay less each month and more when you need to see the doctor or fill prescriptions.
Another consideration is the plan’s network. There can be a significant budget impact when you see doctors in-network vs. out-of-network. Other potential cost-saving options include health savings accounts or flexible spending accounts, which might save you tax dollars.
2. Doctor Visits
Avoiding visits to the doctor because of the expense can end up costing more in the long run if you leave serious symptoms untreated or fail to properly manage a chronic condition. Make sure you understand all costs associated with your visits, including what’s covered by insurance, your co-pay and any out-of-pocket costs. Labs and tests aren’t always covered, and certain conditions like diabetes can require many test-related expenses. Sometimes saving money can be as simple as having lab work done at an in-network facility and sent to your doctor.
In addition to a primary care doctor, many patients with diabetes also see an endocrinologist and have more frequent visits to the eye doctor. Indirect costs like transportation and childcare may also impact the overall expense of a visit.
3. Prescription Drugs
Doing your research can make a major difference in what you pay for your prescriptions. For many conditions, such as diabetes, the cost of medication may make it tempting to skip doses to make a prescription last longer, but that can have dire medical consequences.
Instead, conduct price checks with various pharmacies and discuss your medication options with your doctor, including which of your prescriptions have generic alternatives available. If a generic is a possibility and your doctor believes it’s a good match for your condition, be sure the prescription notes that substituting is allowed. You can also look into coupon savings and patient assistance plans.
In addition, some programs are available to help people with certain conditions. For example, GetInsulin.org, created by nonprofit organization Beyond Type 1, is a one-stop tool for anyone with diabetes who is having trouble accessing affordable insulin in the United States.
“High-quality, modern insulin must be available to people with diabetes regardless of employment or insurance status, across all demographics, without barriers and at an affordable and predictable price point,” said Thom Scher, CEO of Beyond Type 1.
Through the website, users answer a few questions and receive customized action plans to guide them through the access solutions that best serve their unique circumstances such as location, insurance type, income and prescription.
4. Medical Equipment
Devices like oxygen tanks, pacemakers, blood glucose monitors and CPAP machines for sleep apnea play vital roles in treating serious medical conditions. If you’re worried about the cost of equipment recommended to help you navigate a short- or long-term diagnosis, work with your doctor and insurance company to figure out the most cost-effective method to achieve your treatment goals.
5. Emergency Care
A medical emergency isn’t only a drain on your physical and mental well-being, it can deliver a major blow to your finances. Emergency care can cost thousands of dollars per visit, especially with high-deductible insurance plans. Some conditions like diabetes are associated with a higher likelihood of emergency care needs for complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis and severe hypoglycemia. To offset the impact of potential emergency care expenses, plan ahead and build a savings account for your medical needs.
6. Food
Certain diets cost more to maintain, and that can be especially true when you’re eating to accommodate a medical need. When planning food costs, be sure to account for the foods you’ll eat regularly, as well as the extras you’ll need, such as glucose gummies and snacks to treat low blood sugar for those living with diabetes.
Searching for Solutions
After her father passed away from complications of uncontrolled diabetes, Christine Kanderski was determined to never relive that pain. This meant finding a way to afford treatment for her mother’s type 2 diabetes and her son’s type 1 diabetes.
“There was no way that my family and I were going to let diabetes take another one of our family members,” Kanderski said.
Kanderski budgeted for a laundry list of costs: appointments, health insurance, needles, test strips, glucose meters and insulin. One trick she found to save money was sharing supplies between her mother and son.
When things seemed hopeless, Kanderski reached out to the diabetes community for support and resources. Tools like GetInsulin.org can help people find affordable insulin. Users answer a few questions and receive customized action plans to guide them through solutions that best serve their unique circumstances.
Learn about options to help manage your diabetes-related expenses at GetInsulin.org .
Photos courtesy of Getty Images (Nurse and woman with patient, Doctor with patient)
Pie chart caption: According to research from the American Diabetes Association
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Beyond Type 1
(Sheeka Sanahori) Being an adult comes with a never-ending list of responsibilities: Cook dinner. Scrub the bathroom. File taxes. The tasks grow even longer when sharing a household with a partner, building a family, or taking care of others. No matter how you define “adulting,” getting life insurance tends to be one part of the to-do list that keeps getting set on a procrastination loop.
New survey data backs that up: there are plenty of other tasks adults would rather focus on first.
The Adulting Task Americans Keep Avoiding
According to the 2026 Life Happens Life Insurance Survey, a financial literacy nonprofit organization, 39% of U.S. adults would rather clean out their email inbox than figure out their life insurance needs. Another 31% would rather clean out the garage or basement. One in five U.S. adults would be willing to sit on hold with customer service for three hours before life insurance planning. Even though many adults have it somewhere on their list, nearly half (46%) say they’ll either deal with it later or not at all.
They Know It Matters
Nearly a third of adults have already figured out a life insurance plan, and they feel good about their decision. Others are feeling more conflicted: 14% have a policy, but they’re not sure if they have enough. Another 12% say they either don’t know where to start or they think it’ll be too expensive.
It’s no wonder people are putting it off: Navigating a new-to-them form of financial planning can come with a lot of complicated emotions. Four in 10 feel either overwhelmed, anxious, or some combination of both. Sixteen percent of U.S. adults feel guilty for putting it off, but when the outcome is more procrastination, that feeling lingers.
Why Later Keeps Winning
If you’ve ever faced an important decision without having enough information to make an informed choice, you know how stressful it can be. While the generations have different takes on making major decisions with a gut feeling or “pure vibes,” most of the time, people want to feel like they’re making an informed choice. Forty-five percent of U.S. adults say cost concerns, confusion or procrastination are the main reasons they have delayed or would delay looking into life insurance. For more than one in five, the plan is to seriously look at it when they feel more financially stable. For 12%, they say they’ll do it when they’re older.
Men tend to feel more confident about their life insurance decisions to date; 53% of men vs. 41% of women feel confident their family would be financially protected.
The First Step Feels Bigger Than It Is
Learning more about life insurance, how it’s priced and how it works could help get many consumers out of their procrastination loop. A quarter of people say they’d make a decision if they learned it was easier to get than they previously thought. Thirty percent would make the purchase if they learned it was more affordable than they believed it to be. Others need an experienced professional to talk to or an online calculator tool to give them guidance.
Methodology: Life Happens commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 2,000 adults, including 700 Gen Z respondents, 700 millennials, and 600 Gen X respondents throughout the United States. The margin of error for the overall sample is +/- 2 percentage points and +/- 4 percentage points for each generational sample, with a confidence level of 95 percent. Fieldwork took place between July 14 and July 20, 2026. Atomik Research, part of 4media group, is a creative market research agency.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock (couple using computer)
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(Feature Impact) Young people face a growing number of pressures, including academic expectations, social responsibilities, complex family situations and uncertainty about their own futures. Mental health support is important for all – but in many rural areas, those pressures are even greater.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate for rural youth ages 15-19 is 74% higher than their urban counterparts. Barriers like limited insurance coverage, unreliable internet for telehealth, scarce providers, long drive times and lack of public transportation make it harder to get mental healthcare when it’s needed. Plus, asking for help can feel like opening oneself up to judgment and stigmatization.
That’s why Rural Minds, the only nonprofit focused on mental health for rural communities, created the Rural Youth Mental Wellness pilot program supported by Boehringer Ingelheim. It was developed by an advisory committee made up of rural youth to provide their peers with practical, free, accessible mental health resources. Incorporating feedback on the pilot, the updated program sponsored by the Sompo Foundation is now launching its national rollout.
“A young person’s ZIP code should never determine whether they can access meaningful mental health support where and when they need it,” said Jessica L. Schleider, Ph.D., director, Lab for Scalable Mental Health, Northwestern University. “Our lab is thrilled to partner with Rural Minds as they champion evidence-based, anonymous, freely available support tools designed to overcome barriers to help-seeking faced by rural youth across the country.”
If the rural mental health crisis affects you or a loved one, consider these ways to help.
Break the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health
In communities where self-reliance is valued, asking for help can sometimes be viewed as a sign of weakness. Young people who feel unheard and unsupported often struggle with being vulnerable, so they continue carrying their increasingly heavy burdens alone.
Parents, educators, healthcare providers, community leaders and peers can work to change that culture by normalizing mental health conversations. This includes helping teenagers feel seen and accepted by educating them on mental health issues and coping strategies, listening to their experiences without judgment, sharing your own stories and reminding them it’s courageous to seek support.
Consider Single-Session Interventions
The first step is always the hardest when it comes to seeking mental health support, and not every struggling young person is ready or able to see a therapist. With access to free, confidential, self-guided materials to begin building mental wellness skills, the first step may be less scary.
Single-Session Interventions (SSIs) are brief, structured online courses designed to teach youth practical skills for handling stress, low mood, self-image and more. The Rural Youth Mental Wellness Program offers SSIs in partnership with Project YES (Youth Empowerment and Support), a free digital resource developed with Northwestern University’s Lab for Scalable Mental Health at the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Anonymous access to SSIs through the partnership provides strategies for:
- Improving mood
- Rethinking body image
- Reframing negative thoughts
- Knowing your power to change
- Taking steps toward goals
- Protecting LGBTQ+ pride
- Handling self-harm urges
- Staying safe amid dark thoughts
Each SSI typically takes 5-10 minutes. Although SSIs are not a replacement for therapy, they provide a research-backed source of support for young people experiencing bouts of stress or low-to-moderate distress.
Know When to Seek Professional Help
Self-guided resources and supportive conversations are a valuable starting point, but sometimes young people need qualified professional help. Look for symptoms like worsening mood or behavior, substance use, self-harm or difficulty managing everyday tasks, and take teens seriously when they express dark feelings.
Doctors and counselors can provide personalized support for youth in crisis, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers free, confidential 24/7 support for mental health by dialing 9-8-8.
“I grew up in a small town where mental health was almost taboo,” said committee member Asheton Medlin. “Being part of the committee that built this program let me help make sure rural youth today have the support I didn’t. I’m excited to help bring these resources to them because this generation deserves the chance to grow up and change the world.”
Find more information at RuralMinds.org.
Photos courtesy of Shutterstock
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(Feature Impact) When it comes to protecting your heart, supporting your kidney function and improving your metabolic health, you’ll find the advice for each one looks similar. That’s because your body’s systems are deeply interconnected: what affects one will have ripple effects across the others.
Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic health, or CKM health, is a perfect example. When any one of these systems is compromised, it can lead to problems with the others. Therefore, it’s not uncommon for health problems like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease to develop or worsen simultaneously – a condition collectively known as CKM syndrome.
The reverse is also true, so habits that are healthy for your heart will have a positive effect on your kidneys and metabolic system and vice versa. Consider these simple strategies that align with the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8, a list of healthy steps that can improve overall health. Learn more about how these habits and health measures affect your CKM health at Heart.org.
- Choose Healthy Foods – Food is your body’s fuel, so fill your tank wisely. Certain types of foods can help your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and triglycerides stay within healthy ranges, while poor nutrition can push those numbers into more dangerous territory. Focus on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, plant-based proteins (e.g. beans, legumes and nuts) and lean animal proteins (e.g. seafood, skinless poultry and low-fat dairy). Drink plenty of water throughout the day and limit added sugar and salty or fatty foods.
- Stay Physically Active – Exercise doesn’t have to feel like a chore – in fact, some of your favorite hobbies may already count. The American Heart Association recommends aiming for 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity like dancing, gardening or walking, moving quickly enough to elevate your heart rate and break a light sweat. Alternatively, choose 75 weekly minutes of vigorous exercise that gets you breathing hard and fast; think running, swimming, playing tennis or riding your bike on hilly terrain.
- Avoid Nicotine – Tobacco and other nicotine products can raise your blood pressure, damage blood vessels and increase your risk of heart attack and stroke, which are all bad news for your CKM health. If you’re currently trying to quit, you aren’t alone, so don’t be afraid to seek out support groups and resources to help.
- Prioritize Healthy Sleep – Sleep gives your body a chance to rest and recover from the day, but it’s often one of the first things people sacrifice when life gets busy. Poor sleep can increase your risk for heart disease, weight gain and other issues. Aim for a solid 7-9 hours a night. Keep your bedroom cool, dark and comfortable, and do your best to limit distractions like late-night smartphone scrolling.
- Watch Your Blood Pressure – When your blood pressure is high, it forces your heart to work harder to pump blood through the body, which can weaken it over time. It can also damage the delicate arteries in and around the kidneys, putting CKM health further at risk. Information is power, so check your blood pressure frequently to know whether further action is needed to keep it under control.
- Manage Your Blood Sugar – High blood sugar can damage the kidneys, eyes, blood vessels and more, thereby increasing your chance of developing harmful CKM conditions. Controlling blood sugar is particularly important for people with diabetes. If you don’t have diabetes and still experience frequent blood sugar spikes and crashes, talk to your doctor.
- Control Your Cholesterol – Cholesterol comes in both “bad” (LDL) and “good” (HDL) forms, requiring a balancing act to keep your levels within a healthy range. If LDL is high and HDL is low, your risk of clogged blood vessels, heart attack and stroke are higher. Healthy levels keep blood flowing to your heart and kidneys, supporting your metabolic health in the process. See your doctor for regular bloodwork so you can monitor cholesterol changes.
- Maintain a Healthy Weight – Since excess body weight puts pressure on the heart, kidneys and other organs, a healthy body weight helps lower your risk of CKM syndrome. Whether you’re hoping to maintain or reduce your weight, regular exercise, healthy eating and quality sleep are all great ways to achieve your goals.
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