does your family member have insurance? the biggest expense in testing is the cost of the test strips. each monitor generally has it's own strips. freestyle use to have a special copay on it's test strips. I don't remember the details. insurance companies have preferred monitors (and strips) for coverage. so check the monitors online to see what they have to offer. you don't have to have all the record keeping that is available online. you may want to talk to a pharmacist to get an idea of which monitors will and will not be a good fit. a simple monitor is generally a good choice, especially just starting out. freestyle has one that takes a small sample of blood. accu check has one that has a lancer that uses a drum. bayer has one that uses a disk with the test strips on the disk. and you can check out the generic ones that some stores offer. good luck.
