Parents buying black-market insulin for their kids as prices skyrocket

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/28/parents-buying-black-market-in.html

Commie nonsense. The increased pricing is just the free market creating new opportunities for exciting and disruptive entrepreneurs, like this charismatic fellow:

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I’m considering illegally buying on the internet a very expensive antibiotic that my Mother’s doctor prescribed but which her insurance wouldn’t cover. The same drug costs $4-$10 in other parts of the world.

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What interests me is why has this product increased in price by 1,123 percent since 1996? Is this simply the manufacturer jacking the price because they can or is there another factor at play here?

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There’s your answer.

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I’m not sure there is another possibility when the price jumps more than a thousand percent (and it wasn’t cheap to begin with). I can’t conceive of anything that would otherwise have that kind of impact.

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Came to post the Ferris Wheel speech, gonna do it anyway:

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I don’t get it. A vial is $270, and that’s after an 1,100% increase? (Mine costs about the same for a vial.) So it used to cost, like, $30? And she’s allergic to her preferred insulin? What component is she allergic to?

I get it: this stuff is super-expensive. It’s crazy. And the test strips, too! I just replaced my two glucagon kits today (I’ve never had to use one, thank goodness, but they do expire): $520.

I’m just not getting some of the details.

If you can make it to Tijuana (or other relatively safe border towns) - and know the Mexican equivalent to your meds, Gusher pharmacy has a 32% discount if you can provide a passport-or-smaller-sized photo to put in their laminated discount cards. And that’s a discount off Mexican prices.
I believe you can bring a three month’s supply of medications into the U.S. when you cross the border.

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