Who We Are
Our Mission
The Insulin Initiative organizes, mobilizes and empowers people demanding federal action for affordable and accessible insulin in the United States.
Our Vision
All insulin-dependent people with diabetes have access to insulin with no financial or logistical barriers.
Our Story
Since 2016, grassroots patients in the United States have invested significant time and energy into work on insulin – including raising awareness through the media, lobbying for state legislation, and holding insulin manufacturers and diabetes organizations accountable to patients. Insulin price advocates have fundamentally changed the culture of the diabetes community by making unacceptable the unfettered “pharma” influence.
The result of this work has led to several wins on insulin:
The list price of insulin has remained unchanged since 2017/2018.
Insulin manufacturers have been forced to expand their patient assistance programs.
State legislators have been pressured to implement policies including insulin co-pay caps, emergency prescription refills and public manufacturing of insulin frameworks.
Thousands of articles have been written on extortionate insulin prices, the insulin “black market” and in tribute to those who died from insulin rationing.
Insulin prices were a 2020 campaign issue with almost all candidates addressing insulin in some way – in their platforms and in their debates.
The Insulin Initiative, started by insulin-dependent patients in the U.S., is here to push for the enactment of federal, transformative policies in the United States of America. Our first goal? Get a federal insulin list price cap billed passed. We hope you will join us.
Meet the co-founders
Laura Marston has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 24 years. In 2016, Laura’s story of struggling to afford insulin was published on the front page of the Washington Post in an article that ultimately broke the news of astronomical insulin prices to Congress and the United States public. Laura was invited to the White House by former President Obama to discuss insulin prices and the Affordable Care Act. Laura has written and published numerous opinion pieces on insulin prices, including one featured in the British Medical Journal, and regularly co-authors essays on insulin prices with representatives such as Nevada State Senator Yvanna Cancela, who passed the country’s first insulin price transparency law.
Samantha Leon was diagnosed with diabetes in 2018. She lost her would-have-been first born due to complications of high blood glucose levels in early pregnancy. She is fighting for Insulin4All so that no one is forced to suffer the effects of not having the insulin they need to stay healthy - and alive.