On Monday, I had to get some more insulin. I went to the pharmacy, ordered it, and they said it would be ready in 20 minutes. I went back and they told me how much it was. I found this odd as my insurance always covers it, so I thought the pharmacist was just letting me know the cost. Nope. I had to pay out of pocket for my insulin because my insurance had not covered it.
Lately, the media has been telling the story of the rising cost of insulin. Let me break it down for you.
Over the past five years, the cost of insulin has DOUBLED. In 2012, it cost $12, 467 annually for a diabetes patient. By 2016, the cost rose to $18, 494. The average out of pocket spending for insulin, jumped from $,2000 to $5,000.
In the U.S.A., 7.4 million Americans live with diabetes and approximately 40,000 new cases are diagnosed every year. In Canada, 3 million Canadians live with diabetes and close to 200,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
Ah, the monopoly of insulin. Isn’t that great? There are three companies that have the largest game in the insulin market: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi. These three take up 90% of the insulin market. Because of this, they set the price for their insulin. Meaning they can raise the cost at anytime!
The average cost of an insulin prescription, has gone up over $200 in just three years!
Due to the cost of insulin rising, patients have started rationing their insulin. Meaning they may not be using how much they need to use to stay alive. This can cause their kidneys to suffer and the patient has a high risk of going into diabetic kept acidosis. DKA is when your body starts producing large levels of ketones. When your body can’t produce enough insulin to deal with the rising sugar levels, your body starts feeding on fat instead of glucose. In the media, due to the rising cost of insulin, we have seen a lot of death due to DKA.
How can we stop losing so many to complications from diabetes and DKA? Start offering insulin at a more affordable price than what is currently being implemented. Physicians have started prescribing newer, higher priced insulin to their patients. Patients also need to become aware of community assistance programs that can help cover the cost of insulin.
At the end of the day, there needs to be more education about diabetes, insulin, and community access programs.
P.S. Just because I have diabetes, doesn’t mean I can’t eat candy.
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