AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — Americans across the country who are fighting the challenges that may come with diabetes, also fight the high costs.

“We don’t want nobody to have to sit down at the kitchen table to say, ‘hey I gotta choose between buying a loaf of bread, gas, electric bill– it’s hard, it’s hard,’” Barney’s client and founder of Heart-to-Heart Prescription Assistant Wayne Canty said.

Millions of Americans are currently living with diabetes, but the high cost of their medication has made it difficult for many to get the disease under control.

“Those are gonna typically run you– for a patient without insurance– around $500 per box, and whether that lasts a patient 30 days or 10 days, that has to do with their control and their body and their doctor’s dose. So, sometimes they need two of those boxes for a month,” Barney’s Pharmacy Morgan Roberts, PharmD said.

Those high costs– forcing some to skip doses or find other alternatives.

“My medication was pretty high, I had to find supplements to pay for my medication, until I got to this point where I got sick and then I started getting help,” Canty said.

Those high costs have gotten the attention of lawmakers and the white house. Drug makers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk announced this month they will dramatically lower their out-of-pocket prices for insulin.

“It’s gonna help a lot of people with their insulin and that’s worlds of wonders.”

But this change won’t take place until January 1st of next year, so local pharmacies tell me what they’re doing to help.

“Be a little bit more affordable, but even at that, people still– at that particular time- you know, some people out here just won’t be able to afford it,” Canty said.

Roberts tells me she’s glad to do what she does. 

“We’re lucky that we are able to provide those resources for those patients here.”  

If you or someone you know needs assistance with diabetes, click here.