This last Friday, Glenn Beck’s TV show on FOX News involved wargaming worst-case scenarios five years into the future. There was a lot of talk about hyperinflation, world-wide jumps in unemployment, and increasing disenfranchisement and distrust of the government.
Being a Mormon, I’ve heard all my life about how we should prepare for tough times by building up food storage for your family and having tools and supplies that can help you weather tough times.
But what about diabetics like myself or other people whose lives depend on regular doses of medication? In a major disaster, it’s possible your neighborhood pharmacy is not going to be able to get resupplied and it might not even be open or accessible.
I’m fairly certain my health insurance plan won’t cover my purchasing extra insulin and other supplies to stock-up in case of a disaster. I’d probably have to pay out-of-pocket to stockpile these items and then rotate through them with supplies my insurance company will cover so I always have a couple weeks or a couple months extra.
Another problem diabetics and others may have to consider is how to keep medicines like insulin stored at recommended temperatures. If a disaster results in loss of power and/or heating fuel, keeping stored insulin cold (and not frozen) can be a challenge.
I also should make sure I have a good supply of hearing aid batteries so people can talk to me when we’re all living off wheat stores and stale water. :-)
I won't comment on Beck's "wargaming", but I will note that there are propane-powered refrigerators that are mostly used in RVs. Something like that might be a good idea to pick up for storing temperature-sensitive medication, though you'd then have to stockpile enough propane to keep it going. I'm not positive, but I'd guess it'd be more efficient than running a standard refrigerator off a gas-powered generator.