Must Reads on the Insulin Crisis…

 

There's something odd about the way insulin prices change by Lydia Ramsey Phlanzer for Bloomberg.

In other words, the competition seems to have done nothing to push prices down. In fact, when charted side by side, the price increases seem to be in synch.


Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive by Carolyn Y. Johnson for The Washington Post

But the drug also has become a gift to the pharmaceutical industry. A version of insulin that carried a list price of $17 a vial in 1997 is priced at $138 today. Another that launched two decades ago with a sticker price of $21 a vial has been increased to $255.


The High Price of Insulin by Bram-Sable Smith for Side Effects Media

For many people, life goes on after a diabetes diagnosis. But for others, the high price of insulin has forced them to devise dangerous and sometimes deadly workarounds to make ends meet. On this episode: the lengths to which some diabetics go to survive, and why insulin is so expensive.


He lost his insurance and turned to a cheaper form of insulin. It was a fatal decision. by Antonio Olivo for The Washington Post.

His death at age 27 illustrates the worst-case scenario for thousands of lower-income people living with diabetes in the United States who depend on over-the-counter insulin that — for $25 a vial at Walmart — sells for one-tenth of what the more effective version costs.


The Nonprofit Grifters Who Want a Cut of the Coronavirus Bailout by Audrey Farley for The New Republic.

After years of undermining health policy to aid their Big Pharma patrons, patient advocacy groups are making claims to federal pandemic relief.


States are trying to cap the price of insulin. Pharmaceutical companies are pushing back by Amy Martyn for Fair Warning.

The drug industry has fought some state efforts to make insulin more affordable to people who are on Medicare or lack health insurance.


Trump says he’s made insulin ‘so cheap it’s like water.’ That’s not true. by Allie Marotta for The Washington Post.

Last time I checked, no one is paying $300 for a case of Poland Spring.


For years, JaMarcus Crews tried to get a new kidney, but corporate healthcare stood in the way. by Lizzie Presser for Propublica.

He needed dialysis to stay alive. He couldn’t miss a session, not even during a pandemic.


This 24-Year-Old Diabetic Is Saving Lives the Government Won’t by Molly Jong-Fast & Rick Wilson for The New Abnormal.

Twenty-four-year-old Madelyn Corwin’s social media feeds feature a few selfies, videos of her insulin pump, and almost always a link to a GoFundMe page.


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