Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/26/pancreatic-cancers.html
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The price of insulin has not tripled everywhere in the world. Only in the USA are healthcare agencies legally banned from negotiating lower prices. The UK National Health Service is not paying three times as much, and, of course, patients in the UK just pay the standard prescription charge of £9 per item.
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Yes, we know everyone else has it better. Don’t rub it in.
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IMO, this is unconscionable. Profit margins are ok, price gouging is not, especially for a NECESSARY medication.
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I found it hard to believe, but WalMart (yes WalMart, Satan’s retail center) is selling cheap insulin over the counter. WalMart employees do not even know yet. But here is a link to their website:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Novolin-ReliOn-Insulin-70-30/173853414
There are other types and packaging available, see their website.
You will have to print the page and wave it at the minion at the pharmacy, they will not believe you.
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Why?
Easy answer:
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For all of Walmart’s many faults, they do offer a lot of services that are a crucial lifeline to poor people, especially rural poor people. Did you know you can get a basic pair of glasses there for about $35 including prescription lenses? They also offer fairly decent but very basic financial services.
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Walmart has a plethora of cheap drugs. So does Costco (no idea about insulin), who charges me like $15 when CVS wants $80+.
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I’ ve been following this walmarts 25 dollar insulin is not analog still a good resource for people to be aware of but acording to this a doctor should be consulted before switching. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify-can-diabetics-buy-25-over-the-counter-insulin-at-walmart/65-cc98907b-e3cb-4976-bd88-6bb247cef042
I would happily personally help any american get insulin from Canada but according to this
https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/true-or-false-you-can-buy-insulin-from-canada#1 it wouldn’t be necessary. but again if any one reached out i would be happy to donate my time to working out how to get insulin from here to there .
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The problem with the cheap Walmart insulin is that this isn’t the current insulin that doctors prescribe to diabetics, it’s an older formula of insulin that was replaced with the current versions that came out 3 decades ago. Although it’s better than nothing, it’s metabolized much more slowly than the current fast-acting insulin, so that it’s much harder to keep your blood glucose from spiking really high after a meal.
It should only be used as a stopgap when people are otherwise unable to obtain the correct insulin. Though that itself is a thing that should never have to happen, and doesn’t in the rest of the modern world.
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I go with greed too, yeah, it’s blatant unbridled greed.
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My youngest daughter is an adult trying to live on her own with Type 1 diabetes. This pisses me off beyond words. I’ve told her to tell me if she ever has problems getting insulin. I just hope she actually tells me. She has an independent streak a mile wide.
ETA not that I could afford these prices either, but I can help her rob a bank. (I’m not really going to rob a bank (hopefully it won’t have to come to that.))
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I’d like to add inequality to that. Which is more profitable: setting a price everyone can afford and therefore selling to everyone, or setting a price only 10% of people can afford and therefore selling to only 10% of people? The answer depends entirely on how much richer those 10% are than the other 90%.
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Healthcare as a human right does not mesh well with late-stage capitalism wherein literally everything can (and should!) be placed on a demand curve optimized for maximum profit.
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oh come now. we know exactly why the price has gone up…
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Why hasn’t the price quadrupled? What is limiting the price level?
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No, diabetes is one of the conditions for which medication is supplied completely free of charge in the UK. Diabetics don’t have to pay the £9 prescription charge.
The NHS itself buys its insulin at around the £16 - £20 mark for a 10ml 100 units/ml ampoule (The price varies according to exact product, but that price represents the typical products used by most type I diabetics. Search for the UK National Drug Tariff if you want the full details.).
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What’s been done here is manslaughter. Who has the balls/bar certification to sue?
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To be fair, CVS does have to figure out a way to pay for all those block-long receipts.
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Why? Loaded lobbyists.
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