Having an incontinence issue is very expensive. Let’s look at how much it costs to maintain products for an incontinence issue. We’ll break this down into six circumstances and also show you what else you can do:

1. Moderate Urinary incontinence where product performance is more important than cost.

2. Full Urinary incontinence where product performance is more important than cost.

3. Moderate Urinary incontinence on a tight budget

4. Full Urinary incontinence on a tight budget

5. Fecal Incontinence

6. Reusable Products

7. What else you can do



1. Moderate Urinary Incontinence where product performance is more important than cost.


Most of the time, people have urinary incontinence, and most of the time, having a good product and being taken care of is very important. It makes sense to start here. This first discussion is for moderate incontinence. The most common product used is the Tranquillity Premium Overnight Disposable Underwear, so let’s use them as an example.

Most people with moderate incontinence use two to four disposables a day if they are using good products, so let’s break this down. A case of this Tranquility (take a size large for example) costs $85.43 for 64 diapers.

At 2 diapers per day, this comes to

$1.33 per diaper

adult diaper pull-up picture

$2.66 per day

$80 per month

At 4 diapers per day, it doubles:

$5.32 per day

$160 per month

Thus, using good products, a person can expect to spend $80-$160 a month.



2. Full Urinary Incontinence where product performance is more important than cost

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Let’s look at a fully incontinent person’s cost. The most common product used is the Tranquillity Premium Overnight Disposable Underwear, so let’s use them as an example.

You really should change a diaper every time the fully incontinent person uses the product. Without doing this, you could compromise skin health, but you could get by on $80-$120 a month. But let’s look at what it costs to do it right. Most people with full incontinence use three to four diapers during the day and a couple at night. So let’s say four to six disposables a day if they are using good products, so let’s break this down. Again, the case of this Tranquility (take a size large again for example) costs $85.43 for 64 diapers.

At 4 diapers per day, this comes to

$1.33 per diaper

$5.32 per day

$160 per month

At 6 diapers per day, this comes to

$7.98 per day

$240 per month

So using good products and doing it right, a person with full incontinence can expect to spend $160-$240 a month. Some people in this category cut costs and don’t change very often, spending $80-$120 a day, but this is hard on the skin and is not recommended. At the end of this article are some things you can do to be more likely to spend a lot less, such as dietary changes and kegel exercises.



3. Moderate Urinary Incontinence on a tight budget.


Most of the time, people have urinary incontinence, and sometimes they just don’t have very much money. Let’s talk about what to do here. The most common inexpensive (and less quality) product is the Prevail Extra Protective Underwear for Moderate Incontinence

Most people with moderate incontinence on a tight budget should use more products but don’t. They usually use two to four diapers a day. A case of these Protection pluses (take a size large for example) costs $60.79 for 72 diapers

At 2 diapers per day, this comes to

84 cents per diaper

$1.68 per day

$50 per month

adult pull-up diaper picture

At 4 diapers per day, it doubles:

$3.36 per day

$100 per month

So using less expensive products, a person with moderate urinary incontinence can expect to spend $50-$100 a month.



4. Full Urinary incontinence on a tight budget.


Let’s look at a fully incontinent person’s cost on a tight budget. The most common product used is the McKesson Protective Underwear Ultra, so let’s use them as an example. Any less quality product and the person might have to clean up leaky messes a lot and is not recommended.

You really should change a diaper every time the fully incontinent person uses the product. Without doing this, you could compromise skin health, but you could get by on $52-$78 a month. But let’s look at what it costs to do it right. Most people with full incontinence use three to four diapers during the day and a couple at night. So let’s say four to six disposables a day if they are using good products, so let’s break this down. Again, the case of these McKesson Protective Underwear Ultra (take a size large again for example) costs $48.34 for 72 diapers.

At 4 diapers per day, this comes to

67 cents per diaper

$2.68 per day

$80 per month

At 6 diapers per day, this comes to

$4.02 per day

$120 per month

So using cheap but acceptable products and doing it right, a person with full incontinence can expect to spend $80-$120 a month. Some people in this category cut costs and don’t change very often, spending $58-$88 a day, but this is hard on the skin and is not recommended. You can sometimes reduce the amount spent a lot by exploring dietary changes and kegel exercises. I’ll talk about them below.



5. Fecal Incontinence.


Let’s look at fecal incontinence. In this case, where performance is important. The most common fecal incontinence product is the Tranquility ATN Disposable Brief

Most people with some fecal incontinence use two to four diapers a day, and those with full fecal incontinence really should use four to six diapers a day. So we’ll do two breakdowns, one for two diapers and one for six. A case of these Tranquility ATN Disposable Briefs for fecal incontinence (take a size large for example) costs $112.37 for 96 diapers

At 2 diapers per day, this comes to

sunset and couple

$1.17 per diaper

$2.34 per day

$70 per month

At 6 diapers per day, it is:

$7.02 per day

$210 per month

So using regular products, a person with fecal incontinence can expect to spend $70-$210 a month. If the Tranquility ATN just won’t do it, which sometimes happens, you’ll have to spend more on a product like the Tranquility SmartCore Disposable Briefs. We do not recommend using anything cheaper than this for fecal incontinence. You take the risk of having messes of feces, which is unsanitary.



6. Reusable Products

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Reusables are less expensive after a few months of use. They cost about the same as a few months of product, but after a few months, you are not buying any more products until they wear out. We recommend at least six reusable briefs for urinary or fecal incontinence. Some people might need up to twelve. A very good and popular product is the MIP Ultra Fit Med-i-Brief.

Six large briefs of this type cost:

$38.09 each for a total of a little over $229 for six.

And twelve cost $458

The average reusable can be washed three hundred times.



7. What else you can do

Some of the things you can do to decrease the number of products needed is:

coffee
  • Drink plenty (yes not less!) water – about eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Decrease liquids near nighttime if you are prone to nighttime incontinence. Cutting way back on the water in an attempt to control incontinence can cause major problems and can sometimes make incontinence worse
  • Schedule regular bathroom breaks. This will train your body to go to the toilet instead of using the product.
  • Eat a well-balanced, healthy, natural diet (this is huge and will usually help)
  • Limit alcohol
  • Limit caffeinated products (coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, etc.) especially carbonated soda.
  • Limit sugary products and artificial sweeteners.
  • Limit carbonated products
  • Limit spicy foods
  • Limit citrus fruits
  • Limit cranberry juice
  • Talk to your doctor about whether or not your medications are contributing to your incontinence, and note if your headache medicine contains caffeine

Incontinence is very expensive, but there are things you can do and precautions you can take. It’s almost always good in the long run for health, skin, and comfort to use better products but some people just can’t. Feel free to fill out the form below to submit a story on your experience with paying for Adult Diapers. Feel free to ask our nurse a question or leave any kind of a comment or question in the form below, we'd love to hear from you.


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question markI just contacted Medicare to find out if my incontinence supplies would be covered and they are not, so I'm gonna see if my Denver Health Medicaid choice covers them, if not they will all be out of pocket, I will need to add them to my budget. Do you know of a company that takes Medicaid & private pay, because I require at the moment extra large briefs, wipes, and zinc cream?


the word responseAt this time we cannot accept insurance directly. You may want to ask your Medicaid provider if they    cover the product and if they will reimburse you with a paid invoice. We can provide the product for you and send you the paid invoice for you to have them reimburse you. If you have any questions, or we can help in any way, please let us know. You may want to contact your local pharmacy, they also may be able to help.