According to a CBS news article, the price of insulin has more than doubled over the past five years. I find this news a complete shock and honestly, absolutely ridiculous in my opinion.
I have had type 1 diabetes since I was 9 years old, so a total of 12 years. Being a type 1 diabetic means that my body doesn't naturally produce insulin anymore so I have to manually insert it into my body. A form of insulin is then sold to diabetics who need to take it on a daily basis.
That's why I think it's so ridiculous that the price is continually rising for a drug that us diabetics need to survive. I have read stories online of people rationing their insulin because they can't afford the rising prices, which is extremely dangerous.
If you eat or drink anything, your body will naturally produce insulin to balance out what you just ate or drank so your blood sugar will not rise too high or drop too low. So imagine if you're a diabetic and you're not getting any insulin into your body after you just ate or drank something. It is a very dangerous practice that medical professionals warn against.
According to attorney and type 1 diabetic Laura Marston, "In 2012 a vial of Humalog insulin was priced at $130. By 2016, the same vial was priced at $255". Yearly that number comes out to $5,700, up from $2,900 in 2012. Obviously, this is a very drastic rise in a very short period of time.
There could be so much more done to try to figure out how to lower the costs of this drug that many people need to survive. There have been so many amazing discoveries in the medical field even within the past couple of years. Knowing that there must be some way to lower the costs of this extremely important medication.
