I don't get this. Why are unused diabetic test strips suddenly like scrap gold? At first I thought "Gross, used test strips. Was this an art project I wondered." I don't even know what a test strip is or how it works, and why would they go unused? Unless people are so desperate for cash they have to sell them, and then are unable to test themselves, putting them in danger ... Such a sad state of affairs, and your photo speaks to the true state of things as they all do, they are so brutally honest ... what we see on TV and in magazines is not how many people – let me rephrase – most people live, only a small percentage are strutting around in Prada heels and sipping Cristal or whatever they sip
Due to the poor, fat and sugar-rich diet prevalent among the US poor, type II diabetes is epidemic in poor urban neighborhoods, the Appalachian region and other chronically poor distressed areas. So, I assume that the diabetic blood sugar monitors and blood test strips are provided to large number of poeple under the Medicaid or Medicare program. But a poor person may want or need cash instead, so they can cash their (unused) test strips (and forgo monitoring their blood sugar) for cash.
This kind of stuff was done with the old-style printed food stamps, or other non-cash government benefits in the past. I once met a poor Lakota guy when visiting Wounded Knee, SD who try to sell me a car-trunkload of government-furnished cheese because he needed cash.
3 comments:
I don't get this. Why are unused diabetic test strips suddenly like scrap gold? At first I thought "Gross, used test strips. Was this an art project I wondered." I don't even know what a test strip is or how it works, and why would they go unused? Unless people are so desperate for cash they have to sell them, and then are unable to test themselves, putting them in danger ... Such a sad state of affairs, and your photo speaks to the true state of things as they all do, they are so brutally honest ... what we see on TV and in magazines is not how many people – let me rephrase – most people live, only a small percentage are strutting around in Prada heels and sipping Cristal or whatever they sip
Due to the poor, fat and sugar-rich diet prevalent among the US poor, type II diabetes is epidemic in poor urban neighborhoods, the Appalachian region and other chronically poor distressed areas. So, I assume that the diabetic blood sugar monitors and blood test strips are provided to large number of poeple under the Medicaid or Medicare program. But a poor person may want or need cash instead, so they can cash their (unused) test strips (and forgo monitoring their blood sugar) for cash.
This kind of stuff was done with the old-style printed food stamps, or other non-cash government benefits in the past. I once met a poor Lakota guy when visiting Wounded Knee, SD who try to sell me a car-trunkload of government-furnished cheese because he needed cash.
Wow, that is just crazy, and sad. Thanks for the explanation.
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