Insulin in America: Rent or Medicine?

The rise of insulin prices in America has led to thousands not being able to afford the life-saving Medication causing unnecessary, preventable deaths. Many citizens in the country rely on insulin to keep living, whether from obesity caused by eating or having no choice in the matter and being born with it. Over the past nearly one hundred years, insulin prices have steadily risen, with the biggest jumps happening in the last twenty-five years. If this trend does not stop, those who need the medicine will have to live on welfare for the rest of their lives. 

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Insulin was always meant to be affordable and easy to access as many need to to survive, at least, that is what its creator wanted, modern companies have other ideas, however. The first bottle was sold for three dollars when insulin was developed and patented in 1923. Just a little less than a regular black coffee from Starbucks. Jumping forward sixty-ish years, in 1982, bottles started to sell for $14, adjusting to inflation. About the cost of an expensive fast food meal now. Still very affordable. Jumping ahead fourteen years in 1996, bottles now cost $24 dollars. Getting a bit pricey, but almost everyone should be able to afford that every month. Then, in 2005, the price shot up to $60 a bottle. Again, in 2012, six years later, the prices were anywhere from $125 to $138, above a 100% makeup from six years prior. “A $7.3 billion business in 2005 achieved a $21 billion global market by 2013” (Hirsch, I. B., 2016, para. 5, a). In seven years, the companies that developed insulin raised the market to triple what it was worth in 2005. And looking at the sales on the global market, this quote shows the massive disproportion in sales, “North America accounts for 7% of the world’s diabetes, it accounts for 52% of global insulin sales. China, by comparison, accounts for 25% of the world’s diabetes but only 4% of global insulin sales” (Hirsch, I. B., 2016, para. 5, b) North America accounts for 52% of total global insulin sales. This is because, unlike many other countries, North America has no price controls for medicine such as this, leaving it all up to the free market. Looking ahead now, in 2021, sales for insulin bottles go anywhere from “$175 to $300” (Cohen, J. 2021, para. 4). And seeing as some people need two or more bottles a month, most people are shelling out $7,200 a year, or more. If regulations are not implemented, these prices will only rise, causing more and more people to decide whether to get their medicine or pay bills.

 

Seeing an almost ten thousand percent increase in cost for a life-saving drug would alarm most people, but it looks good if you make all the money. As established in the previous paragraph, insulin prices went from $12 in 1982 to well $300 by 2021, a 2,400% increase in cost over thirty-nine years. And starting from its original sale value of three dollars in 1923, it has gone up 9,900% over the past 98 years, with a majority of its incline over the past thirty-nine years. Irl Hirsch quoted in his report Insulin in America: A Right or a Privilege?, “...a result of the U.S. healthcare system’s ‘willingness to pay for modest differentiation and its acceptance of repeated price increases’” (Hirsch, I. B. 2016, para. 5, c). To summarize, “We increased the price to see if people got mad, they did not, so we kept doing it.” The root cause of the increase in prices is the biggest problem in the medicinal field, greed. Seeing how much they can squeeze out of their patients before lawsuits start flooding inboxes. This is the cause of wanting more and more money for a life-saving drug because they know people will pay for it, not caring for the mountain of bodies they leave behind. 

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From personal testimonies from those I know who have diabetes and need insulin, reading about those who do not think about the human cost or lives taken by these corporations' actions is appalling. Mayo Clinic published a commentary titled “The High Cost of Insulin in the United States: An Urgent Call to Action,” They open with the story of a young man trying to face paying out of pocket for insulin after losing his insurance. “He decided to try and ration the amount of insulin he took till he had enough savings to purchase insurance. Sadly, on June 27, 2017, he was found dead in his apartment of diabetic ketoacidosis” (Rajkumar, V. S. 2019, para. 1). Alec Smith, a 23-year-old man, did not have to die. The thousands of others who ration insulin just to save up enough for another full dose didn’t have to die. The greed of these people has left a mountain of dead, and they don’t care. And why should they? They are making millions and sitting in penthouses living the good life, while those who depend on their medicine collapse and die in their own homes because they can’t pay the equivalent of buying two TVs a month to stay alive. It is unacceptable, and change needs to happen. 

 

Greed and unchecked power allowed medicinal companies to leave many choosing between paying rent and buying medicine. The rise of insulin prices in America has led to thousands unable to afford life-saving medicine and other unnecessary, preventable deaths. If left unchecked into the future, prices could increase even more, with these companies knowing they will still make money because they have what people need. The situation is not without hope. However, many small companies and good-hearted individuals are working toward creating cost-effective insulin that won't break the bank. Pressure must be put on these companies, both in the government and through protests, to reduce these prices so people don’t have to die. Hopefully, we will see real change in the next decade, though it is cold comfort to those who have already lost their lives. The best thing to do is to ensure they did not die for nothing. 

 

 

References​

Cohen, J. (2021, January 5). Insulin's out-of-pocket cost burden to diabetic patients continues to rise despite reduced net costs to pbms, 95(1), 22-28. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2021/01/05/insulins-out-of-pocket-cost-burden-to-diabetic-patients-continues-to-rise-despite-reduced-net-costs-to-pbms/?sh=dad8ff440b24. 

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Rajkumar, V. S. (2019). The High Cost of Insulin in the United States: An Urgent Call to Action. 29(3), 130-132. https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(19)31008-0/fulltext. 

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Hirsch, I. B. (2016, August 1). Insulin in America: A right or a privilege? Diabetes Spectrum. https://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/3/130.full.