OBJECTIVES: Estimate the yearly costs attributable to and resulting from the provision of different self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) regimes vs. no SMBG in the treatment of patients with type-2 diabetes (T2D) from the Mexican public health system perspective. METHODS: The individual experience of a patient with T2D was simulated using a discrete event simulation built in Arena™. Patients were created with unique, randomly assigned clinical, epidemiologic and demographic baseline characteristics, cloned 3 times, and sent to each of the SMBG regimes considered (0, 1, 2 and 3 times daily). Clinical guidelines (ADA, ALAD) were used to determine diabetic- and complication-specific pharmacologic treatment, resource utilization and treatment algorithms & goals. Glycosilated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was the main driver of disease progression, determining initial state, drug titulation/combinations and insulin dosage. Treatment therapies include lifestyle modifications alone, oral antidiabetics (OADs) and insulin use. Complication and acute event development for each SMBG regime was assessed through relative risks, taken from local published studies. All OADs and insulins were assumed to be equally effective in reducing HbA1c. T2D-related complications and mortality were considered. All clinical and cost data were obtained from published literature. Simulation was run with 16,000 patients for 20 years using a 4.5% annual discount rate. Per-patient costs for selected years are shown in inflation-adjusted 2010 MXP. RESULTS: 1, 2 and 3 times daily SMBG regimes resulted in lesser costs than no SMBG after years 1, 3 and 4, respectively. Year 5 accumulated costs for the former were $114,099, $108,152 and $110,898, and $120,723 for no SMBG. CONCLUSIONS: SMBG adoption yields better mid- and long-run clinical and economic outcomes than no SMBG. Potential savings are due to fewer complications and slower disease progression. Healthcare institutions should adopt SMBG to control HbA1c levels and reduce the social and economic burden T2D imposes.