Can You Sell Test Strips You Got Through Medicare?

It depends entirely on who actually paid — and most people guess wrong.

The short answer

Not if Medicare actually paid for them. Medicare Part B covers blood glucose test strips for people who meet the criteria, and supplies funded that way sit outside the resale market. But a lot of people assume Medicare covered their strips when it did not — a commercial plan, a supplement, or an out-of-pocket purchase all work differently. Before you rule anything out, it is worth a two-minute call to establish which applies to you.

Why the funding source is the whole question

A government program pays for supplies on the basis that the beneficiary will use them. Converting that benefit into cash is what the fraud statutes reach. It does not matter that the box is sealed, that you paid a copay, or that you genuinely do not need them — what matters is who funded the supply.

How to tell what funded yours

• Check the card that was on file at the pharmacy.
• Look at a Medicare Summary Notice or an explanation of benefits for the supply line.
• Pharmacy paperwork in the bag usually names the payer.
• Still unclear? Call us on (470) 816-9685 and we will work through it with you.

This is the most common question in the whole category and there is no awkwardness in it. Plenty of people call us not knowing, we figure it out together in a couple of minutes, and most of the time the answer is that the supplies are theirs to sell.

If it turns out Medicare did fund them

Donation is the route. Free clinics, community health centers and diabetes education programs across metro Atlanta accept unopened, in-date supplies and get them to people who cannot afford them. We will point you at one — no reason for good supplies to go in a bin. Where to donate in Georgia.

What about commercial insurance?

Different answer, and a much more common one. Supplies dispensed under an employer or marketplace plan, or bought at retail out of pocket, are your property and can be sold. That is the large majority of what we buy.

What the record shows

Everything below is quoted or drawn from a primary source, linked so you can check it yourself rather than take our word for it. Full list on our sources and regulations page.

• “Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) covers some diabetic test supplies, including blood glucose (blood sugar) test strips”

  After the Part B deductible, a beneficiary pays 20% of the Medicare-approved amount — which is why establishing who actually funded a given box is the first thing worth checking.

  — Medicare.gov, Blood sugar test strips coverage, current.

• “illegal importations, theft, or by buying the diabetic test strips from patients”

  Two defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud on 10 May 2024 after acquiring non-retail and international test strips and reselling them to pharmacies as retail stock. They altered invoices and shipping records and counterfeited National Drug Code numbers, bar codes and labeling. The scheme produced roughly $12 million in fraudulent proceeds, and each defendant faced up to ten years in prison.

  — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, Two additional South Florida residents plead guilty to health care fraud charges related to diabetic test strips, 2024.

• 40.1 million Americans — 12.0% of the population — have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, including 29.1 million diagnosed adults. An estimated 11.0 million more have it and do not know.

  — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2023 data.

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