doctors: GOOD NEWS EVERYONE we have found a treatment for diabetes it’s called insulin! people won’t die from this illness anymore if we just give them insulin isn’t this great news?
united states of america: how about we make it so poor people have either limited to zero access to this insulin?
doctors: but don’t we have enough resources to provide for everyone in need of such a medication?
the united states of america: yes!
doctors: isn’t that genocide
united states of america: YES
united states of america fist pumping and chanting ‘U’ ‘S’ ‘A’:
capitalism is genocide
i usually don’t add to posts i reblog but as a type 1 diabetic this makes me so fucking angry.
i have an insulin pump. each time i change the port (basically what connects it to my body, similar to an iv) i use about a third of a bottle refilling the cartridge. i change it every three days, so one single, 10ml bottle of insulin lasts me around nine days.
i had to look this up because my parents don’t like to tell me how much my supplies cost. (for reasons like this. i feel guilty for my t1d. i shouldn’t have to feel guilty about an autoimmune disorder i was born with.)
you know how much it is for that one, single 10ml bottle of insulin, for those without any insurance?
$328.
for nine days.
$328 for a nine days supply of the medicine that i literally need to survive. the medicine that once i become an adult and have to take care of myself, i will have to pay for. the medicine that unless, by some miracle, they find a cure, i will need to take for the rest of my life. $328 for nine days of my life.
Near and dear to my non functional pancreas
Fam, I am also type 1 diabetic. I also use a pump. I am preparing to go do fieldwork in Europe for nine months and insulin is perishable. I use a brand that’s available in Europe. The same vial that costs $300+ in the US without insurance costs €22 ($25.60) in one country and $10-15 in the other. Not with insurance! Cash. Roll up to the pharmacy and explain that you have diabetes cash price.
It doesn’t have to be like this. The US needs to start negotiating better pharmaceutical prices like every other country. Get some socialism up in this bitch.
I’ve been diabetic for 27 years. Type 1 and Type 2. I’m so insulin resistant my insulin has to take insulin. I use on the order of 400-500 units per day. That vial being talked about above? Generally a 10ml U-100 vial. That’s 1,000 units per bottle.
I’m on a pump, but so that I don’t have to refill it twice a day, we’re using U-500 Regular. I’m lucky: I have insurance through my employer. It’s the worst overall insurance I’ve ever had in my life, but at least the prescription coverage is pretty good. I just went and checked, and the “cost” (what the insurance claims they paid) for a 90 day supply of my insulin last time I had it filled, was $7,495.98. That’s $83.29 per day, JUST for the insulin. This doesn’t include the pump supplies, or the CGM supplies for monitoring my blood sugar.
And, because there’s no such thing as “generic” insulin, even if you have insurance you’re always paying the brand-name price tier.
But imagine if I didn’t have insurance. That’s $2,500 per month for insulin. That’s $100 more than I pay for the mortgage. That’s $900 more than I’d pay for a fully-tricked-out Tesla X.
That’s 54% of my take-home from one paycheck, and I am a well-paid software developer. Imagine having to pay a quarter of your income just for the main drug that keeps you from dying in a pretty unpleasant way. Now imagine it if you’re not a well-paid software developer.
I’m extremely lucky. I’ve had insurance almost constantly since I’ve been diabetic, so I mostly haven’t had to keep up with the inflating price of insulin. I’ve got an amazing endocrinologist who’s willing to experiment to find better ways of managing my body’s attempts to murder itself. I make enough money I can (generally) afford it when my insurance screws up or refuses to pay for something.
And I still spent last weekend in the ICU with ketoacidosis.
So, yeah, I may have Opinions about pharmaceutical manufacturers.
