This makes me so happy and so sad at the same time. My grandmother died last year because she was trying to ration her insulin. I hope no one has to go through that again. My mom and I tried to help where we could, but with everything going up in price… I know rationally that skipping meals so I could send more money wouldn’t have made a difference, but the guilt is crushing.
Im so sorry. I feel every word you wrote. My mom died 15 years ago. She rationed her insulin, too. At the time, i wasn't fully aware of what that really meant for her well-being. She always made it seem like it would be ok. I didn't get it, and I feel so ashamed. Every time i think of how much money I spent on almost anything other than insulin makes me sick with regret.
I know that deep down you know this, but it's not your fault. There are so many that should feel guilty before you. I'm sorry for your loss though. As painful as it is, spreading your mom's story spreads awareness of the dangers of rationing insulin - sadly, sometimes people still don't have a choice, but maybe that will change too.
I hope you're finding happiness in the other parts of your life friend.
All I can say is to not fault yourself for someone else's greed. You tried all you could, and therefore your grandmothers death is not on you or your mother.
God I hate Telus/bell/rogers. They can all fuck right the hell off. I pay close to to 200$/m for 150mb/s speeds and my speed test maxes out at 50ish mb/s at best on good days. It’s a fucking joke.
I live in a rural area way up North in BC. Since 2010 Telus has been taking CRTC grants to run fiber optic up here, and in 13 years they've run lines to less than a dozen buildings. Millions and millions of dollars gone with no recourse.
My options are copper, advertised at 15mb/s, though the cables are so aged any temperature shift makes the connection unstable sometimes for days, or Telus rural LTE hubs, which have so overloaded towers that they get 0.1mb/s during peak hours, or Starlink, which is expensive, drops out periodically, but is a pretty amazing option overall usually getting 150mb/s+
Oh, and lets not forget the fact that Rogers illegally made it that you couldn't call 9/11 and than after their serves shut down, someone actually couldn't call 9/11 and died due to it.
I'm honestly shocked that this is legal in the US. One would think that prices for something that people need to survive on a regular basis have to be somewhat rational to their production cost. It's like making a litre of water cost 30.bucks because you know people will *have* to buy it to not die.
Not just insurance. That model is also why college debt is so high and still increasing.
It turns out, if you subsidize costs instead of fixing prices companies will just raise the prices to whatever they can get away with charging because they know it will be paid by insurance, the government, or in the case of loans: eventually by the person who couldn’t afford to pay outright in the first place.
That’s not true competition though. That’s called a cartel and they aren’t exclusive to drug dealers.
Normally governments would step in to deal with business cartels.
It’s not like they had a monopoly on Insulin. There was already massive insulin competition. It’s just that these competitors realized you can make a lot of money by taking something people will die without and unnecessarily pumping the price because well, they’ll die without it so they will pay!! Haha those stupid sick IDIOTS with their Diabetes.
How would you describe Lily’s price before? Did it not have competition? Or did all that competition from other businesses also decide to mark up their insulin?
To me this shows how government can help force change while still allowing capitalism to be work.
Government done right in this instance.
What is the timeline for this price? One year? Two? Three? When and how does the price get renegotiated? Is this price reduction ahead of any government mandates so that Eli Lilly can avoid the restricted ability to raise prices in the future?
There must be more to this story. Insulin isn't a very high end product that is super difficult to produce. Out of the millions of people you would expect some nice person found a company and sell it slightly above production price or some international company to import it. But that didn't happen - why? Did someone hold patents and refuse to let anyone sell it for low value?
Insulin has been in existence long enough where it should be cheap. What the drug companies do is claim they made some slight tweak and therefore should be able to charge ridiculous prices.
Anyone who has researched this topic is usually disgusted…. Unless your a greedy C level suite at which point fuck those sick people, that 4th vacation house ain’t gonna buy itself dude.
How about you look up the price of insulin over the last 30 years? Should be easy for you to find.
PS: It went from $33 in 1996 (already too high) up to over $300 per vial. At one point it became the SIXTH most expensive liquid in the world.
For a drug where the inventor purposely didn’t patent it because he wanted it to be free.
That explains how they can justify the price to _their_ specific product but why is there zero low value alternative available? That is just weird af, considering that the rest of the world has it at 15% of the US price
It’s not weird.
It’s greed.
Stop thinking that these are companies with morals. They want money and you’re gonna die without their stuff.
This doesn’t create competition that lowers prices, it creates competition on who can raise their prices the most without losing X amount of customers. Why lower prices when everyone can just pretend it costs that much and therefore they can make more of the monies.
GREED. Simple answer, my friend. GREED.
From a diabetic I know. She explained to me that everyone’s system reacts different /processes insulin differently. Some fast acting is very different than regular, and different types are used by different people. She said that her insurance only allowed for xyz, but her system didn’t work well on xyz but rather abc which wasn’t covered by her insurance. For a country as large and wealthy re government spending as the USA, it still baffles me why the government didn’t curtail the cost of insulin which is a basic human need (for basic survival)
You are correct.
Also - GREED.
Now shut up and pay for their 10th mansion. What are you some kind of stupid idiot socialist with your care of other humans?!
Regarding the patent, the men who were awarded the US patents on insulin and the method of production in 1923 actually sold the patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each - with inventor Banting saying "insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world".
So it's pretty wild this insulin price correction was ever needed...
What a bunch of horseshit.
Insulin costs Eli Lilly $7 a vial to manufacture.
Seven bucks.
They were charging as high as $300 a vial. Outrageous!!
The inventors of insulin sold their patent for $1.00 in 1923 because they wanted it to be available to all at low cost.
That's how other countries'governments do it. You think other developed countries has their citizens paying $300 PER VIAL? Because they don't. 😂 A lot have it for free or at 20 US dollars or less. And all the other supplies are covered as well!
It's the exact same companies selling insulin in canada and Mexico where insulin prices are already equivalent if not less than $35USD for people paying out of pocket (so basically just high income earners without insurance or people without a government prescription).
Are you serious? Obviously everyone who needs it deserves insulin but of all the people they could've lowered the price for it was for a group of people that are going to die soon anyway for hundreds of other reasons? That's the group they chose to lower it for?
That's the group that votes for the GOP
And once it's fixed for them they'll stop yelling about it at all because fuck other people still paying too much
Well yea, no teenagers or infants in the legislative body that would have taken seats away from a party if they died. Cant have those other lib-servatives get an edge! Gotta make sure they can afford the drug that makes them stay alive on a daily basis. /s
Eli Lily: So? We do it EARLY ENOUGH and people will think of us as a ‘benevolent pharmaceutical company,’ it’s a win-win.
Skeptic: Cool, so what’s the price of everything else you sell, like your cancer treatment drugs?
Eli Lily: …
In hindsight the creators seemed like good people and should have kept the patent, making and distributing it at near cost they'd still be loaded af (well deserved)
They didn't sell it to these companies, they sold it to a public body in Canada, so that it would always be legal to produce it in the public hand.
However, since then many variations of insulin have been developed, and those were patented separately. While in most developed countries the price floor of the original version sold at cost led to other methods being priced at least on the same order of magnitude as the production cost, this isn't the case in countries where the government is unable or unwilling to step in and produce cheap insulin if price gorging were to occur.
So this group mostly includes the US and a bunch of developing countries, the former because it was unwilling to step in protect people from big pharma, the latter because they were either unwilling or unable. Here is some interesting maps on this: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
So I’m just going to repost my comment from a few weeks back,
As a diabetic we should feel selfish for prioritizing this idea of caping the price of insulin. I feel people haven’t thought this through. Has anyone thought how this will affect shareholders/investors and their families? Us diabetics tend to forget who the real victims are. When I was diagnosed 20years ago, I held my head high knowing my money was directly supporting the generous shareholders of Novolog and Lantus.
It saddens me that in 2022, [1.3 million diabetics in the United States rationed their insulin](https://cnn.com/cnn/2022/10/17/health/insulin-rationing-diabetes-study/index.html)
because of the “high” price or that many drive across the [Canadian](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/as-price-of-insulin-soars-americans-caravan-to-canada-for-lifesaving-medicine/2019/06/14/0a272fb6-8217-11e9-9a67-a687ca99fb3d_story.html)/[Mexican](https://khn.org/news/americans-cross-border-into-mexico-to-buy-insulin-at-a-fraction-of-u-s-cost/) boarder to buy the same exact insulin for a fraction of the price at home. A quote from the linked article, “For one patient, a three-month supply of insulin is $3,700 in the U.S. versus $600 in Mexico.” SMH. I’ll do the math for you, that’s $3100 of missed revenue from a SINGLE patient. How much lower can we realistically expect profit margins to go? Where does it end? This relentless attack can’t go on forever. How will shareholders be expected to support themselves and also invest in real estate? Add to this the ever increasing costs of healthcare, inflation, student loans, childcare, higher education and cocaine it’s not looking good for them.
We all know how tough the current real estate market is. So this idea of cutting their profit margins makes me feel sick.. or maybe it’s just my silly diabetic ketoacidosis that’s talking back… well I better take more insulin so I can go fill and pay for my Novolog prescription sooner!
It’s all this me, me, me, me talk and the ‘bUt ThE PrIcE oF InSuLiN iS AffEcTinG mY QUaliTy oF liFe, MY BoDy CaN’t PrOdUcE iT. I liTeraLLy NeEd iT to SuRViVe’ talk that comes from the diabetic community triggers me. Like big whoop, you have an autoimmune disease that you didn’t want. Do you know how it feels when your ROI is shit and barely beats the annual average inflation rate of ~3%? News flash! The price of insulin affects the quality of life of shareholders/investors too.. Maybe you could afford more insulin if you could budget and cut back on the $6 sugar free lattes from Starbucks.
In closing, I wholeheartedly believe Americans should consider the needs and wants of all parties involved, not just the diabetics. Because at the end of the day we’re all just trying to survive while making an honest living.
/s
Annnnnd with that, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for attending my TED talk! Later I’ll add a link the GoFundMe for both Eli Lilly and Company (the manufacturers of Humalog) and Novo Nordisk (the manufacturers of Novolog) in the show notes. Every bit helps during these trying times. Unfortunately, due to recent events I may have to unfortunately cap the donations at $35 :(
Edit: I have an idea I would like to pitch to Southwest Airlines. Offer round trip tickets to Mexico for diabetics who want insulin it’s a win-win. A great deal for diabetics. They get their special insulin and Southwest gets to increase their ticket sales! I just checked and United offers round trip LA-Cancun tickets for $359 and round trip NYC-Cancun for $634. Why not enjoy yourself while stocking up on your life saving medication?
Edit again:
This year is the year I will be able to legally buy my diabetes a beer. I hope it was apparent this was sarcasm and 100% meant to mean the complete opposite. It’s that the state of our healthcare system is beyond frustrating. Reading headlines about other diabetics in the US who have died and who are struggling due to insulin rationing infuriates me. I tell family/friends all the time how greedy and inept the current system is and everyone agrees and shakes their head to then just move on with their day….
Diabetic’s insulin is not the only disease or medication experiencing this type of price gouging. I hope others become more aware so we can finally do something about it. My wish is that as a society America wakes up, I’m tired of family and friends who get horrible diseases like cancer, who work full time, are insured yet still have to create a GoFundMe
to help offset their medical bills. It. Blows. My. Damn. Mind.
So I decided to make a rambling post about supporting the entities who have been clearly against making insulin affordable. I don’t believe there’s a demographic made up of white collard, Whig aligned, married, middle aged men who are adamantly against lowering the price of insulin. It’s due to lobbyist and the internets of these people who profit from producing insulin.
Another edit:
I’ve realized that this post was me venting, finally putting together ideas that I’ve had at one point or another since my diagnosis. I keep rereading this and realize how incredibly jaded I am. Realizing that a large part of the reason this shitty disease is stressful for many of my fellow countrymen is due to the need for some to want to make insane profits. People have died and continue to die because of people’s monetary greed. It does not have to be this way.
I can't put into words for fucking shocked I was at first. It took me a minute to realize this was sarcasm and I was in shock and awe that someone held that belief.
dude one of the best comments i’ve read. cheers to your insight and perseverance thru all the frustration. wishing you some extra goodness in your life!
More like the Ogre has agreed to only devour 20 children a day and 15 puppies, but yeah f%$# these guys. They literally just admitted to ripping off US consumers by dropping the price over $65 and nothing will happen to them because we live in a corporatocracy.
While I agree that past horrible behavior should persist as a stain on the reputation of a company that they should own and carry for a very long time, this does not mean that reform should be condemned. Even if they did it after being poked, they still did something positive, and positive actions should result in positive feedback. Something of the sort, “Well, it sure took you a while to do the right thing and a lot of people suffered while you were figuring it out, but dang, this is a really solid thing you are doing for once, and you should do more of it. Attaboys and attagirls to you. Keep it up. More of that, please.”
This needs to happen more often. These assholes wont bend on their own, and why should we take any shit from them? This isn't their Earth, it's ours. Why we let these corps ruin it is beyond me, cause in 50 years it's not gonna be them living in this shit, they'll be in their mansions safe from the real world. It'll be you and your kids who have to live in the consequences of someone else's actions. People seriously need to fight back and not let out cause they're going to try and take everything from us little by little. Every day. Wages, healthcare, even fucking houses are unaffordable these days unless you are well-off. Even then, those people are beginning to struggle too. Maybe I'm crazy, but that's what I see
There's a ton of pressure on them to bring the cost down and not gouge people, but despite that, they're also facing new competition from Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company, and there was a new law put into effect that capped it at $35/mo for Medicare patients. I don't think that altruism was involved in this decision. Glad the price is down, but fuck Eli Lily.
>The cost of insulin will be capped at $35 a month for patients on Medicare under the new law.
However, the law does not cap the cost of insulin for the millions of people with private health insurance, as Republicans successfully blocked its inclusion in the bill.
The cap on insulin for people on Medicare takes effect in (2023).
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/inflation-reduction-act-becomes-law-will-impact-health-care-rcna43090
Exactly.
Nobody did this out of kindness.
This was a business decision.
Several executives did a cost/benefit analysis and decided that jumping down to $35 for everyone would save them money in the long-run in comparison to facing the backlash of waiting around until the government forced them to.
This is an American publicly traded company. It is literally illegal for them to make any decision which favors citizens over the profits of their stakeholders.
Wait really?? If they do something that benefits society but decreases their stock value thats fucking illegal?!?!?! Goddamn I knew capitalism was a horror show but thats a whole level of fuckery I did not know about
They, as administrators of the company, have a legal obligation to their shareholders, not society. -capitalism.
To a publicly traded company perspective, their shareholders are the only people who matter. Society is what you use to make money for your shareholders. Your shareholders are thought of, in practice, as separate from society at large. On top of that fun logic, the shareholders aren't liable for anything beyond what their current investment value in the company is, regardless of what the company does to make them their money.
and if you think thats bad, everyone has to sell their soul if they want to retire. in order to make meaningful money in the market, you have to invest in these huge funds that most certainly are shareholders of the greediest, harmful corporations. we support them by default because nobody makes money on trades anymore... its through investment.
Mark Cuban pharmacy still has no insulin products nor does it have it any CGM's.
Edit:
My comment was ust an fyi about what's available for people that say check "here" but never looked themselves.
lol oh duh :D thanks
yeah CPD was the first place I looked when I heard about it.. my mama is a T1D and I was hoping it would be on there. maybe that will change soon 🤞
Same! I have more hope of California creating their own insulin production 🤞
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23574178/insulin-cost-california-biden-medicare-coverage
Yes, it's not released yet but Mark Cuban announced that they'll be entering the market soon. Preemptively dropping the price to avoid a flight to Cost Plus Drug Company once they're online could easily be a factor in their decision to drop the price.
Are they actually bringing the price down or are they just working some deal out with insurance to have them cover more?
Or are we going to see an increase to other drugs to make up the cost?
Its hard for me to believe that Eli Lily will be taken any kind of loss.
I live in UK, have been diabetic for 20 years now and have paid not a penny for insulin. Charging patients such high prices is so so so so so evil, like what can they do, not buy it. Especially grotesque because the inventors sold the patent for $1 because they seen how important it would be to keep it affordable. Extra History has a great video about the story. The inventors were constantly at war with each other after their success but they came together for the patients and sold the patent for practically nothing, only for the companies to do the most shameful thing possible. It’s pretty much holding the patient’s life at ransom unless their demands are met.
Mind boggling.
One person can book a return flight from NY to New Delhi India for 1,000 $.
Add another 500$ for 3 months of insulin, a few days of stay, and general expenses.
FDA's rule of thumb is that visitors can carry 3 months supply of medication.
So you just converted $9K in 3 months to $2K in 3 months.
And if you are not allowed to bring insulin to US as a US citizen (dunno the rules), 2 folks can comfortably stay in an Indian suburb for $1K per month, ALL inclusive - including insulin.
How the hell does such predatory insulin pricing even survive?
You prolly scramble to get the 3k/month and can't survive 2 weeks without insulin to save up for the flight. And you need to earn 1k/month in India which might work with remote working but probably not with a local unskilled job. It's a trap.
Can it be a non-awareness issue? There's Italy, Mexico, Canada who have cheap insulin as well.
You get to San Diego - I would think a return trip from anywhere in US shouldn't be more than 800$, take a return train to Tijuana for 20$, 100$ insulin, and be back the next day ... just a weekend trip, no days-off needed.
And if you are spending 2K $ per month for insulin, then pay 500$ for 1 week supply, and use the remaining $1500 to cover the next 3 to 6 months by one quick trip.
Cheap? I receive it for free. It's not like something that I can live without. USA sell the ideia that is the best country, and people struggle just to live.
This kind of medication should be distributed by free, and in some cases you also can buy them. In my country if using today currenci, I would pay U$70,00/Mon and yet I receive it for free
T1D living in America here. It's absolutely bonkers. People also talk about insulin like thats all we need too. But I am fortunate enough to be able to own a pump (which adds a massive quality of life), but that pump costs $4k, needs proprietary cartridges for that pump (one cartrige lasts 2/3days), infusion sets for the pump (the tubing and needle for installing - lasts 2/3 days) I also need to buy glucose monitor (around $500 a month roughly for the sensors and batteries), test strips and a manual glucose monitor for calibrations, one time use tips for the finger pricker, one time use test strips for those, glucogon for extreme hypo moments, backup syringes, alcohol wipes, overpatches, fast acting sugar, 4 visits to the endo every year, extra visits to specialized eye doctor. Insulin is a good step but man, people dont realize how bonkers expensive this unfortunate auto immune disorder is with american healthcare and the grip these pharm companies have on us. Insurance companies even classify my different needs as "pharm" or "medical equipment" so I have to hit multiple deductibles.
But hey, insulin is the big one so making headway with that is definitely nice.
I've tried to explain this others- it's not just the cost of insulin! When I first got sick and using MDI, test strips cost about $1 each and I was supposed to check at least 8 times a day. Plus 2 types of insulin, plus syringes, plus the doctors visits.
Now, it's a pump and pump supplies, a CGM, 2x a day calibrations, 1 type of insulin and doctors visits. But now it's more doctors visits because I have to visit the ophthalmologist, nephrologist, and gastroenterologist more frequently also. I understand that these are choices that make my quality of life astronomically higher and I could live with MDI.
I use the products so I'm fine paying for them-but the price is criminal. No one should have to ration life sustaining medicine when it's fairly inexpensive to produce.
Sadly this wasn’t due to public shaming. They’d still be fine with letting people die if they could but they have competition now and had to do this to survive. They still have no souls
So, let's make public cooperstive's to twist their arms. Either we succeed and break their arms, or they capitulate
To be clear I am not advocating violence. Though it is lovely imagery in this case
Insulin has been free in Sweden since 1955. All the products you need to administer the insulin and to check your blood sugar etc are also free. For everyone.
FUCK ELI LILY!
Too late for too many and they have blood on their hands regardless.
Hold corporations and the politicians who prop them up accountable!!
It's free over here in the UK if your are diabetic. Seriously America, I hope one day for your sakes you can somehow break the strangle hold that pharmaceutical companies have on your country.
Geeze 35 a month? Thats pretty expensive for a lifetime disease on a medicine that was discovered without any input from the US privatized medical research lobby.
Insulin should be free, end of story. Whatever it costs to manufacture and distribute should be paid for by the government. The amount of people who have died and/or lost their life savings in a bid to live is appalling and heartbreaking.
Credit where it's due, Eli Lily deserves none. What changed between then and now? Eli Lily could have done this year's ago, but they chose not to because of money. They should be charged for the death of every person caused by self rationing insulin because they made insulin too expensive. While we are at it, do the same for epipens and albuterol inhalers.
I was diagnosed with an auto immune disorder early 2022. My insurance assured me it’d only be a 10% copay for my injections and I was excited!
After all, I didn’t want to go blind and have a stroke.
As it turns out, 10% of $130,000 a month is a lot for a music teacher to afford. 4 months later I was facing homelessness.
This country has failed us all.
All at the whim of a corporation. We just have to hope the CEO doesn’t get ousted or change their mind.
Edit ————
For further information:
“Effective January 1, 2023, out-of-pocket costs for insulin are capped at $35 per monthly prescription among Medicare Part D enrollees under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). A similar cap takes effect in Medicare Part B on July 1, 2023.”
And Biden and the Dems have been fighting to cap it at $35 for everyone. Senate Republicans killed a proposal last year to cap out of pocket costs at $35.
Thanks Democrats. Fuck you Republicans.
This actually surprised me a lot that... Insulin isn't free (It's always been free where I am from) and can even cost up to $3.000 per month. Sounds crazy to me to pay that much to just live
My son was diagnosed with type 1 more than ten years ago. In the past, we've paid up to $800 per month for three vials of Novolog, until a wonderful young man in the pharmacy told us about the manufacturer's discount program. It was free, quick and easy to sign up, and ever since then we've paid $25.00 per month for the same three bottles of insulin. If you or someone you know uses insulin, contact the manufacturer and ask them if they have any discount programs or financial assistance. Many do but you have to ask.
I take a pill that is $2,000 a month to buy a bottle. I got accepted into this program which drops it down to $150 a month. It's not the best just off to pay for it but it's so much better than 2k. This insulin could be better but a win is a win, so I'm going to take the small win.
Nothing changed in the way it’s made or the scarcity or raw materials or the patents (there are none). The company decided to be less greedy for a moment after some bad press.
They don’t deserve praise, they should be hit with a class action lawsuit for gouging for so long.
I'm completely blown away by this revelation. Not that they reduced the price, no, the fact that the sell price was 3000 dollar in the first place, hit me in the face. I knew that Americans were ripped off by big corporations, but I never realised how much they were ripped off. 3000 dollar??? For only 1 month of insuline??? A household of two makes about 3000 a month, those companies know that. The amount needed for a single person costs a couple of tens of dollars, not more, so that price you have to buy them for is completely arbitrary. They raise the production price with 10000% for the sale, that's insane! And for a product that people need to stay alive. And because the companies know about the price and the fact that most people don't make that much money, means they deliberately deny people the product that keeps them alive. They literally kill people! How have they never been sued by the US government for this??? Why do Americans allow this to happen? Why is there no revolt against this sociopathic behaviour? Where is the American Revolution against the capitalist companies? Rise up people, you are being exploited, you are being trampled and drowned, why are you not fighting this?
My friend died because he couldn't afford his insulin. He never asked anyone for help, never told anybody he couldn't afford it. His family only worked it out after the fact.
How in the world do we go from insulin coating $3000 to $35?!?! In what world were they thinking they could charge that asinine amount and then now just say they only need to charge $35?!
Do not misunderstand. I'm ecstatic that the price is so low. I'm just trying to understand how the price could have been so high and then they just say "Ope, it's just $35 now."
Pharmacy tech here, make sure when your doctor writes an insulin prescription, the days supply for the prescription does not go over 30 days. When billing insurance, it is billed by months, usually 1 or 3 months. As soon as the prescription hits the 31st day, the prescription will be billed to the insurance like it is another month. So instead of $35 for a 31 day supply. It would be $70 for a 31 day supply. At the pharmacy this is easily changed. We drop the quantity by one pen and you save $35 but the amount of insulin you get is less. Hope that helps, have a good night
Can someone pretend to be the Government and say student loans are now forgiven and it’ll be paid by idk companies who did foul shit and have to pay back profits and see if it kinda works lol
Congratulations on becoming a semi-functioning society! Yay!
In UK, insulin is free. And for T1 diabetics, all prescribed medication is free, for life.
But, you know, enjoy your freedom!
As a T1 diabetic I have very mixed feelings about this. Part of me is so happy and the other part is so sad because insulin should never should have been this ridiculously expensive. So many people have died because they couldn’t afford insulin. This just makes me sick but on the other hand, hopefully fewer people will die.
Also, if it weren’t for the ACA my insulin would cost me about $3,600 a month. ‘Merica!
The US is fucked - as someone who comes from a country with free healthcare this is just a crazy scenario to me, I sincerely hope that you guys will eventually get free healthcare because holy shit
This is fucked up while I do understand it’s so incredible in comparison but it is insane still here in Australia ur insulin costs no more than 8$ a month based on income (I still think it should just be free tho)
This is an awesome step forward, it's a really good thing, but let's not kid ourselves, Eli Lilly knew what was happening long before this, they knew people were dying because they couldn't afford life saving medicine that they produce for pennies. So let's not pretend they're doing this because they suddenly grew a conscience.
Just a note they literally could have done that at any time and saved a lot of lives. It's good news, but also noone forget they literally could have done this at any point.
Muuurica... the freedom nation... And the biggest third world country. I love living in the country where since last 20 years we didn't have any terrorist attack and we have maybe not the best but free healthcare system. Ow... and having single full time job is a standard, there is not much people working overtime and almost no-one works in two jobs.
As a British person I was looking at this thinking “35$ seems kinda expensive I mean I get my Ritalin for free so paying that much every month seems kinda fucky” was literally thinking that the old price must have been like 70 or something and they cut it in half and then I heard three fucking thousand and I now question how America still has living people in it
And let’s not make out Eli Lily to be a hero in all of this. They’re a scum corporation that could back pedal this decision so that they can hit their quarterly targets. Federal regulations are still needed to reign in these scumbags.
The real crime here is that this could have been the price for years. They just now see the writing on the wall. Be reasonable or the Federal government will make you reasonable.
Cool, now do the same thing with Lantus and it will actually prevent people from fucking dying. You can have all the humalog you want, but if you can't take any long lasting insulin you're still screwed.
Sure now the winds turn. We won't forget the agony these companies inflicted in the name of profit. I am not impressed with them changing direction as soon as the social and political landscape changes. Too much blood on their hands in the name if endless profit.
Fuck them, fuck them, fuck them
Insulin costs $10.2 USD a month in India which also exports and fulfills 82% of Insulin supply to North America. $35 is okay but $3000, somebody is really making money off of people lives :(
Just remember they could have done this at any time. They're still a horrible corporation. The GOP is also trying to take credit in some places. Don't let them. They voted against this.
This money-is-everything-supporting-others-is-socialism kind of mentality in many issues in the USA, makes zero sense to the rest of the world. USA surely is a totally different world...
Do not mistake this for the company being nice or some shit. Had things not happened exactly the way they did, they'd still be at it. We should rely on such unique circumstances to ensure ethics in the world
Single Payer Healthcare in America is the way to go. It’s ridiculously to do this drug by drug, procedure by procedure. Should we do a cancer treatment next or just get a better system?
Fun fact: Sir Frederick G Banting (the guy who literally discovered it) made it so that it WOULD be cheap and accessable. So the fact that it isn't is awful.
Some cities hand out free syringes to drug addicts and provide a safe place to shoot up. And people who need a drug to live can’t afford it and could die. Why can’t we just hand out free insulin.
The price of it coming down is fine and all.. but when you have a listers and celebrities buying and using it for accelerated weight loss, doesn’t do much good when the pharmacies can’t get it due to “shortage”
While I am glad this has happened, this does not change the fact that when our daughter was first diagnosed, her insulin was $1000 a month. We were very fortunate to have a very generous and helpful Doctor who helped us navigate back doors to discounts, but we met many people who did not have the same opportunities. We shared insulin with a number of families who could not afford it which infuriatingly was illegal. For us it was worth the risk to help another family save their kids life even though it put us on the margin for how much insulin my daughter had. She was never in danger. We just never had a back up, but other families were able to keep their kids out of danger. Now Eli Lilly comes out and makes this big change but nobody’s talking about how even at $35 that’s still far more than it cost to actually make. Even worse, check out the history of, the invention of insulin and how it was supposed to be free until corporate greed stepped in.
This really made me cry today. I have a friend who literally had to export insulin from her home country to be able to afford it. Because THAT was cheaper than to get it here. This is going to be so life changing for so many people, this is going to save so many lives.
I know nothing about Eli Lily, but as long as this stays true, I am just so elated to hear that the future of so many people’s lives just got rewritten.
Motherfucker you should be getting it for free. We literally get it for free in any Pharmacy around. Thirdy-fucking-five for INSULIN? Thats basic medicine to keep people alive. That country is a joke when it comes to literally protecting those who live in it, because, amazingly, some people don't 35 dollars to spend a month on basic medicine. (yes it is huge, but it shouldn't be, don't get mad at me for pointing out what is wrong with your country, get mad at those who do that to ur beloved country)
Isn't the 35$ price federally mandated now? (or will be soon)
Yes for seniors but California is now making their own state owned insulin so it may be a bunch of factors causing Lily to lower their prices.
This makes me so happy and so sad at the same time. My grandmother died last year because she was trying to ration her insulin. I hope no one has to go through that again. My mom and I tried to help where we could, but with everything going up in price… I know rationally that skipping meals so I could send more money wouldn’t have made a difference, but the guilt is crushing.
Im so sorry. I feel every word you wrote. My mom died 15 years ago. She rationed her insulin, too. At the time, i wasn't fully aware of what that really meant for her well-being. She always made it seem like it would be ok. I didn't get it, and I feel so ashamed. Every time i think of how much money I spent on almost anything other than insulin makes me sick with regret.
I know that deep down you know this, but it's not your fault. There are so many that should feel guilty before you. I'm sorry for your loss though. As painful as it is, spreading your mom's story spreads awareness of the dangers of rationing insulin - sadly, sometimes people still don't have a choice, but maybe that will change too. I hope you're finding happiness in the other parts of your life friend.
I am so sorry for your loss, friend
All I can say is to not fault yourself for someone else's greed. You tried all you could, and therefore your grandmothers death is not on you or your mother.
I’m so sorry you had to go thru that..
So you're saying competition helps.
It's not competition when they all hang out together and decide if they want to do a 25,000% markup or a 30,000% markup.
an Oligopoly. the legal monopoly!
That somehow is just a wild-ass coincidence and not illegal price fixing and not a violation of the Sullivan Antitrust Act.
Monopoly motherfuckers when the government discovers they can do a monopsony: > \>:(
The same thing most ISPs do.
WELCOME TO CANADA!
God I hate Telus/bell/rogers. They can all fuck right the hell off. I pay close to to 200$/m for 150mb/s speeds and my speed test maxes out at 50ish mb/s at best on good days. It’s a fucking joke.
I live in a rural area way up North in BC. Since 2010 Telus has been taking CRTC grants to run fiber optic up here, and in 13 years they've run lines to less than a dozen buildings. Millions and millions of dollars gone with no recourse. My options are copper, advertised at 15mb/s, though the cables are so aged any temperature shift makes the connection unstable sometimes for days, or Telus rural LTE hubs, which have so overloaded towers that they get 0.1mb/s during peak hours, or Starlink, which is expensive, drops out periodically, but is a pretty amazing option overall usually getting 150mb/s+
Oh, and lets not forget the fact that Rogers illegally made it that you couldn't call 9/11 and than after their serves shut down, someone actually couldn't call 9/11 and died due to it.
I agree our mobile providers suck but it's not really the same as a life-saving medication being sold at 25000x's the cost.
Price fixing is still illegal, they are just not being prosecuted.
Big Pharma and Big Insurance. Do they think we don’t know what they’re doing, or do they enjoy the power tripping?
They don't care because we can't stop it either way. Lobbyists should be illegal.
Can we please stop calling it lobbying and call it what it really is? BRIBERY.
I'm honestly shocked that this is legal in the US. One would think that prices for something that people need to survive on a regular basis have to be somewhat rational to their production cost. It's like making a litre of water cost 30.bucks because you know people will *have* to buy it to not die.
You would think, but that's not how it is in the US. The insurance industry as a whole is a testament to this fact.
Not just insurance. That model is also why college debt is so high and still increasing. It turns out, if you subsidize costs instead of fixing prices companies will just raise the prices to whatever they can get away with charging because they know it will be paid by insurance, the government, or in the case of loans: eventually by the person who couldn’t afford to pay outright in the first place.
Amen to that, exactly right.
That’s not true competition though. That’s called a cartel and they aren’t exclusive to drug dealers. Normally governments would step in to deal with business cartels.
It’s not like they had a monopoly on Insulin. There was already massive insulin competition. It’s just that these competitors realized you can make a lot of money by taking something people will die without and unnecessarily pumping the price because well, they’ll die without it so they will pay!! Haha those stupid sick IDIOTS with their Diabetes. How would you describe Lily’s price before? Did it not have competition? Or did all that competition from other businesses also decide to mark up their insulin? To me this shows how government can help force change while still allowing capitalism to be work. Government done right in this instance.
What is the timeline for this price? One year? Two? Three? When and how does the price get renegotiated? Is this price reduction ahead of any government mandates so that Eli Lilly can avoid the restricted ability to raise prices in the future?
There must be more to this story. Insulin isn't a very high end product that is super difficult to produce. Out of the millions of people you would expect some nice person found a company and sell it slightly above production price or some international company to import it. But that didn't happen - why? Did someone hold patents and refuse to let anyone sell it for low value?
Insulin has been in existence long enough where it should be cheap. What the drug companies do is claim they made some slight tweak and therefore should be able to charge ridiculous prices. Anyone who has researched this topic is usually disgusted…. Unless your a greedy C level suite at which point fuck those sick people, that 4th vacation house ain’t gonna buy itself dude. How about you look up the price of insulin over the last 30 years? Should be easy for you to find. PS: It went from $33 in 1996 (already too high) up to over $300 per vial. At one point it became the SIXTH most expensive liquid in the world. For a drug where the inventor purposely didn’t patent it because he wanted it to be free.
That explains how they can justify the price to _their_ specific product but why is there zero low value alternative available? That is just weird af, considering that the rest of the world has it at 15% of the US price
It’s not weird. It’s greed. Stop thinking that these are companies with morals. They want money and you’re gonna die without their stuff. This doesn’t create competition that lowers prices, it creates competition on who can raise their prices the most without losing X amount of customers. Why lower prices when everyone can just pretend it costs that much and therefore they can make more of the monies. GREED. Simple answer, my friend. GREED.
From a diabetic I know. She explained to me that everyone’s system reacts different /processes insulin differently. Some fast acting is very different than regular, and different types are used by different people. She said that her insurance only allowed for xyz, but her system didn’t work well on xyz but rather abc which wasn’t covered by her insurance. For a country as large and wealthy re government spending as the USA, it still baffles me why the government didn’t curtail the cost of insulin which is a basic human need (for basic survival)
You are correct. Also - GREED. Now shut up and pay for their 10th mansion. What are you some kind of stupid idiot socialist with your care of other humans?!
Regarding the patent, the men who were awarded the US patents on insulin and the method of production in 1923 actually sold the patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each - with inventor Banting saying "insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world". So it's pretty wild this insulin price correction was ever needed...
What a bunch of horseshit. Insulin costs Eli Lilly $7 a vial to manufacture. Seven bucks. They were charging as high as $300 a vial. Outrageous!! The inventors of insulin sold their patent for $1.00 in 1923 because they wanted it to be available to all at low cost.
I like that point. Government intervention in a market almost as a punishment for failing to deliver without it.
Competition… from the government?
If the government can still undercut you with all the extra hoops they have to jump through, then you know some major price gauging was going on
That's how other countries'governments do it. You think other developed countries has their citizens paying $300 PER VIAL? Because they don't. 😂 A lot have it for free or at 20 US dollars or less. And all the other supplies are covered as well!
yeah, for (most of) the rest of the world this is horrific to read about.
In this instance, government intervention.
It's the exact same companies selling insulin in canada and Mexico where insulin prices are already equivalent if not less than $35USD for people paying out of pocket (so basically just high income earners without insurance or people without a government prescription).
I think it is implying that public outcry and regulation helps lower prices.
Is it ? One is a private company the other is a state owned enterprise? This is more free market vs planned market, maybe?
So you’re saying liberal CA, is helping insulin prices across the country.
Yes
Seizing the means of production!
The free market loses again.
For seniors only because GOP blocked the bill for
Yes, but thanks to the pressure from the democrats it looks like everyone may get 35 a month insulin.
For seniors only because GOP blocked the bill for everyone else! Edit: for seniors on Medicare only.
Are you serious? Obviously everyone who needs it deserves insulin but of all the people they could've lowered the price for it was for a group of people that are going to die soon anyway for hundreds of other reasons? That's the group they chose to lower it for?
That's the group that votes for the GOP And once it's fixed for them they'll stop yelling about it at all because fuck other people still paying too much
Well yea, no teenagers or infants in the legislative body that would have taken seats away from a party if they died. Cant have those other lib-servatives get an edge! Gotta make sure they can afford the drug that makes them stay alive on a daily basis. /s
Of course, because the company won't lose as much money that way.
I thought it was only eligible for senior citizens? It will be amazing if that was inclusive to all people and not restricted and agest
7
That was for Medicare Medicaid.
Eli Lily: So? We do it EARLY ENOUGH and people will think of us as a ‘benevolent pharmaceutical company,’ it’s a win-win. Skeptic: Cool, so what’s the price of everything else you sell, like your cancer treatment drugs? Eli Lily: …
[удалено]
It's a little bit /r/OrphanCrushingMachine
A Lotta bit actually.
A little?
In hindsight the creators seemed like good people and should have kept the patent, making and distributing it at near cost they'd still be loaded af (well deserved)
They didn't sell it to these companies, they sold it to a public body in Canada, so that it would always be legal to produce it in the public hand. However, since then many variations of insulin have been developed, and those were patented separately. While in most developed countries the price floor of the original version sold at cost led to other methods being priced at least on the same order of magnitude as the production cost, this isn't the case in countries where the government is unable or unwilling to step in and produce cheap insulin if price gorging were to occur. So this group mostly includes the US and a bunch of developing countries, the former because it was unwilling to step in protect people from big pharma, the latter because they were either unwilling or unable. Here is some interesting maps on this: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
So I’m just going to repost my comment from a few weeks back, As a diabetic we should feel selfish for prioritizing this idea of caping the price of insulin. I feel people haven’t thought this through. Has anyone thought how this will affect shareholders/investors and their families? Us diabetics tend to forget who the real victims are. When I was diagnosed 20years ago, I held my head high knowing my money was directly supporting the generous shareholders of Novolog and Lantus. It saddens me that in 2022, [1.3 million diabetics in the United States rationed their insulin](https://cnn.com/cnn/2022/10/17/health/insulin-rationing-diabetes-study/index.html) because of the “high” price or that many drive across the [Canadian](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/as-price-of-insulin-soars-americans-caravan-to-canada-for-lifesaving-medicine/2019/06/14/0a272fb6-8217-11e9-9a67-a687ca99fb3d_story.html)/[Mexican](https://khn.org/news/americans-cross-border-into-mexico-to-buy-insulin-at-a-fraction-of-u-s-cost/) boarder to buy the same exact insulin for a fraction of the price at home. A quote from the linked article, “For one patient, a three-month supply of insulin is $3,700 in the U.S. versus $600 in Mexico.” SMH. I’ll do the math for you, that’s $3100 of missed revenue from a SINGLE patient. How much lower can we realistically expect profit margins to go? Where does it end? This relentless attack can’t go on forever. How will shareholders be expected to support themselves and also invest in real estate? Add to this the ever increasing costs of healthcare, inflation, student loans, childcare, higher education and cocaine it’s not looking good for them. We all know how tough the current real estate market is. So this idea of cutting their profit margins makes me feel sick.. or maybe it’s just my silly diabetic ketoacidosis that’s talking back… well I better take more insulin so I can go fill and pay for my Novolog prescription sooner! It’s all this me, me, me, me talk and the ‘bUt ThE PrIcE oF InSuLiN iS AffEcTinG mY QUaliTy oF liFe, MY BoDy CaN’t PrOdUcE iT. I liTeraLLy NeEd iT to SuRViVe’ talk that comes from the diabetic community triggers me. Like big whoop, you have an autoimmune disease that you didn’t want. Do you know how it feels when your ROI is shit and barely beats the annual average inflation rate of ~3%? News flash! The price of insulin affects the quality of life of shareholders/investors too.. Maybe you could afford more insulin if you could budget and cut back on the $6 sugar free lattes from Starbucks. In closing, I wholeheartedly believe Americans should consider the needs and wants of all parties involved, not just the diabetics. Because at the end of the day we’re all just trying to survive while making an honest living. /s Annnnnd with that, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for attending my TED talk! Later I’ll add a link the GoFundMe for both Eli Lilly and Company (the manufacturers of Humalog) and Novo Nordisk (the manufacturers of Novolog) in the show notes. Every bit helps during these trying times. Unfortunately, due to recent events I may have to unfortunately cap the donations at $35 :( Edit: I have an idea I would like to pitch to Southwest Airlines. Offer round trip tickets to Mexico for diabetics who want insulin it’s a win-win. A great deal for diabetics. They get their special insulin and Southwest gets to increase their ticket sales! I just checked and United offers round trip LA-Cancun tickets for $359 and round trip NYC-Cancun for $634. Why not enjoy yourself while stocking up on your life saving medication? Edit again: This year is the year I will be able to legally buy my diabetes a beer. I hope it was apparent this was sarcasm and 100% meant to mean the complete opposite. It’s that the state of our healthcare system is beyond frustrating. Reading headlines about other diabetics in the US who have died and who are struggling due to insulin rationing infuriates me. I tell family/friends all the time how greedy and inept the current system is and everyone agrees and shakes their head to then just move on with their day…. Diabetic’s insulin is not the only disease or medication experiencing this type of price gouging. I hope others become more aware so we can finally do something about it. My wish is that as a society America wakes up, I’m tired of family and friends who get horrible diseases like cancer, who work full time, are insured yet still have to create a GoFundMe to help offset their medical bills. It. Blows. My. Damn. Mind. So I decided to make a rambling post about supporting the entities who have been clearly against making insulin affordable. I don’t believe there’s a demographic made up of white collard, Whig aligned, married, middle aged men who are adamantly against lowering the price of insulin. It’s due to lobbyist and the internets of these people who profit from producing insulin. Another edit: I’ve realized that this post was me venting, finally putting together ideas that I’ve had at one point or another since my diagnosis. I keep rereading this and realize how incredibly jaded I am. Realizing that a large part of the reason this shitty disease is stressful for many of my fellow countrymen is due to the need for some to want to make insane profits. People have died and continue to die because of people’s monetary greed. It does not have to be this way.
I can't put into words for fucking shocked I was at first. It took me a minute to realize this was sarcasm and I was in shock and awe that someone held that belief.
Under-f*cking-rated comment!
Your s tag was way too far into the comment lol 😂
dude one of the best comments i’ve read. cheers to your insight and perseverance thru all the frustration. wishing you some extra goodness in your life!
Had us in the first half ngl
Bingo. The pain and anguish they caused and zero repercussion. Zero. Nationalize insulin. Now.
More like the Ogre has agreed to only devour 20 children a day and 15 puppies, but yeah f%$# these guys. They literally just admitted to ripping off US consumers by dropping the price over $65 and nothing will happen to them because we live in a corporatocracy.
While I agree that past horrible behavior should persist as a stain on the reputation of a company that they should own and carry for a very long time, this does not mean that reform should be condemned. Even if they did it after being poked, they still did something positive, and positive actions should result in positive feedback. Something of the sort, “Well, it sure took you a while to do the right thing and a lot of people suffered while you were figuring it out, but dang, this is a really solid thing you are doing for once, and you should do more of it. Attaboys and attagirls to you. Keep it up. More of that, please.”
This is good but I won’t forgive Eli Lily for this I lost people Ik from diabetes and they couldn’t afford insulin sorry
The good news isn't that Eli Lily wanted to do this. The good news is that other forces beat them into submission.
This needs to happen more often. These assholes wont bend on their own, and why should we take any shit from them? This isn't their Earth, it's ours. Why we let these corps ruin it is beyond me, cause in 50 years it's not gonna be them living in this shit, they'll be in their mansions safe from the real world. It'll be you and your kids who have to live in the consequences of someone else's actions. People seriously need to fight back and not let out cause they're going to try and take everything from us little by little. Every day. Wages, healthcare, even fucking houses are unaffordable these days unless you are well-off. Even then, those people are beginning to struggle too. Maybe I'm crazy, but that's what I see
There's a ton of pressure on them to bring the cost down and not gouge people, but despite that, they're also facing new competition from Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company, and there was a new law put into effect that capped it at $35/mo for Medicare patients. I don't think that altruism was involved in this decision. Glad the price is down, but fuck Eli Lily. >The cost of insulin will be capped at $35 a month for patients on Medicare under the new law. However, the law does not cap the cost of insulin for the millions of people with private health insurance, as Republicans successfully blocked its inclusion in the bill. The cap on insulin for people on Medicare takes effect in (2023). https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/inflation-reduction-act-becomes-law-will-impact-health-care-rcna43090
Exactly. Nobody did this out of kindness. This was a business decision. Several executives did a cost/benefit analysis and decided that jumping down to $35 for everyone would save them money in the long-run in comparison to facing the backlash of waiting around until the government forced them to. This is an American publicly traded company. It is literally illegal for them to make any decision which favors citizens over the profits of their stakeholders.
Wait really?? If they do something that benefits society but decreases their stock value thats fucking illegal?!?!?! Goddamn I knew capitalism was a horror show but thats a whole level of fuckery I did not know about
They, as administrators of the company, have a legal obligation to their shareholders, not society. -capitalism. To a publicly traded company perspective, their shareholders are the only people who matter. Society is what you use to make money for your shareholders. Your shareholders are thought of, in practice, as separate from society at large. On top of that fun logic, the shareholders aren't liable for anything beyond what their current investment value in the company is, regardless of what the company does to make them their money.
God I hate the world we have created
and if you think thats bad, everyone has to sell their soul if they want to retire. in order to make meaningful money in the market, you have to invest in these huge funds that most certainly are shareholders of the greediest, harmful corporations. we support them by default because nobody makes money on trades anymore... its through investment.
Mark Cuban pharmacy still has no insulin products nor does it have it any CGM's. Edit: My comment was ust an fyi about what's available for people that say check "here" but never looked themselves.
i know your comment doesn't reference the [Curly Girl Method](http://www.reddit.com/r/curlyhair) but I can't figure out what CGM is.
CGM: continuous glucose monitor ex. Libre 2/3, dexcom etc https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/managing-diabetes/continuous-glucose-monitoring
lol oh duh :D thanks yeah CPD was the first place I looked when I heard about it.. my mama is a T1D and I was hoping it would be on there. maybe that will change soon 🤞
Same! I have more hope of California creating their own insulin production 🤞 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23574178/insulin-cost-california-biden-medicare-coverage
Yes, it's not released yet but Mark Cuban announced that they'll be entering the market soon. Preemptively dropping the price to avoid a flight to Cost Plus Drug Company once they're online could easily be a factor in their decision to drop the price.
Are they actually bringing the price down or are they just working some deal out with insurance to have them cover more? Or are we going to see an increase to other drugs to make up the cost? Its hard for me to believe that Eli Lily will be taken any kind of loss.
r/orphancrushingmachine
I know right? Outside of the US this still looks insane.
I live in UK, have been diabetic for 20 years now and have paid not a penny for insulin. Charging patients such high prices is so so so so so evil, like what can they do, not buy it. Especially grotesque because the inventors sold the patent for $1 because they seen how important it would be to keep it affordable. Extra History has a great video about the story. The inventors were constantly at war with each other after their success but they came together for the patients and sold the patent for practically nothing, only for the companies to do the most shameful thing possible. It’s pretty much holding the patient’s life at ransom unless their demands are met.
It's extortion in every single way, except in the legal sense.
$3,000/month. Wtf?
Mind boggling. One person can book a return flight from NY to New Delhi India for 1,000 $. Add another 500$ for 3 months of insulin, a few days of stay, and general expenses. FDA's rule of thumb is that visitors can carry 3 months supply of medication. So you just converted $9K in 3 months to $2K in 3 months. And if you are not allowed to bring insulin to US as a US citizen (dunno the rules), 2 folks can comfortably stay in an Indian suburb for $1K per month, ALL inclusive - including insulin. How the hell does such predatory insulin pricing even survive?
You prolly scramble to get the 3k/month and can't survive 2 weeks without insulin to save up for the flight. And you need to earn 1k/month in India which might work with remote working but probably not with a local unskilled job. It's a trap.
Can it be a non-awareness issue? There's Italy, Mexico, Canada who have cheap insulin as well. You get to San Diego - I would think a return trip from anywhere in US shouldn't be more than 800$, take a return train to Tijuana for 20$, 100$ insulin, and be back the next day ... just a weekend trip, no days-off needed. And if you are spending 2K $ per month for insulin, then pay 500$ for 1 week supply, and use the remaining $1500 to cover the next 3 to 6 months by one quick trip.
Cheap? I receive it for free. It's not like something that I can live without. USA sell the ideia that is the best country, and people struggle just to live. This kind of medication should be distributed by free, and in some cases you also can buy them. In my country if using today currenci, I would pay U$70,00/Mon and yet I receive it for free
T1D living in America here. It's absolutely bonkers. People also talk about insulin like thats all we need too. But I am fortunate enough to be able to own a pump (which adds a massive quality of life), but that pump costs $4k, needs proprietary cartridges for that pump (one cartrige lasts 2/3days), infusion sets for the pump (the tubing and needle for installing - lasts 2/3 days) I also need to buy glucose monitor (around $500 a month roughly for the sensors and batteries), test strips and a manual glucose monitor for calibrations, one time use tips for the finger pricker, one time use test strips for those, glucogon for extreme hypo moments, backup syringes, alcohol wipes, overpatches, fast acting sugar, 4 visits to the endo every year, extra visits to specialized eye doctor. Insulin is a good step but man, people dont realize how bonkers expensive this unfortunate auto immune disorder is with american healthcare and the grip these pharm companies have on us. Insurance companies even classify my different needs as "pharm" or "medical equipment" so I have to hit multiple deductibles. But hey, insulin is the big one so making headway with that is definitely nice.
I've tried to explain this others- it's not just the cost of insulin! When I first got sick and using MDI, test strips cost about $1 each and I was supposed to check at least 8 times a day. Plus 2 types of insulin, plus syringes, plus the doctors visits. Now, it's a pump and pump supplies, a CGM, 2x a day calibrations, 1 type of insulin and doctors visits. But now it's more doctors visits because I have to visit the ophthalmologist, nephrologist, and gastroenterologist more frequently also. I understand that these are choices that make my quality of life astronomically higher and I could live with MDI. I use the products so I'm fine paying for them-but the price is criminal. No one should have to ration life sustaining medicine when it's fairly inexpensive to produce.
Don't worry it's for the 1% so they can buy a new boat.
$35 is still too much.
Let’s keep bullying medical companies
Sadly this wasn’t due to public shaming. They’d still be fine with letting people die if they could but they have competition now and had to do this to survive. They still have no souls
So, let's make public cooperstive's to twist their arms. Either we succeed and break their arms, or they capitulate To be clear I am not advocating violence. Though it is lovely imagery in this case
It should be free. Not 3000 dollars or thirty five dollars but FREE.
Insulin has been free in Sweden since 1955. All the products you need to administer the insulin and to check your blood sugar etc are also free. For everyone.
Anyone not from the USA is just scratching their heads...https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
FUCK ELI LILY! Too late for too many and they have blood on their hands regardless. Hold corporations and the politicians who prop them up accountable!!
It's free over here in the UK if your are diabetic. Seriously America, I hope one day for your sakes you can somehow break the strangle hold that pharmaceutical companies have on your country.
I doubt it, they pay the government to make it more expensive
Charging people any amount of money NOT to die should be illegal.
I agree with you so much
Cool, in my country it's either £9.35 (standard for all prescriptions), or if you have an exception, free.
*But…but America is the greatest country in the world!*
I’m fairly sure that diabetes is a condition that grants you free prescriptions.
Free in Ireland unless it’s gestational diabetes
Geeze 35 a month? Thats pretty expensive for a lifetime disease on a medicine that was discovered without any input from the US privatized medical research lobby.
This is great news! Fuck diabetes x10!!!
Weird kink but okay
Literally look at Eli Lily, their stock price stabilized and is growing again. They weren’t even set back by a year as far as growth in value.
Wish it had happened a year ago before my cousin died alone in his car because he couldn’t afford his insulin!
Insulin should be free, end of story. Whatever it costs to manufacture and distribute should be paid for by the government. The amount of people who have died and/or lost their life savings in a bid to live is appalling and heartbreaking.
America is fucking nuts
Credit where it's due, Eli Lily deserves none. What changed between then and now? Eli Lily could have done this year's ago, but they chose not to because of money. They should be charged for the death of every person caused by self rationing insulin because they made insulin too expensive. While we are at it, do the same for epipens and albuterol inhalers.
I was diagnosed with an auto immune disorder early 2022. My insurance assured me it’d only be a 10% copay for my injections and I was excited! After all, I didn’t want to go blind and have a stroke. As it turns out, 10% of $130,000 a month is a lot for a music teacher to afford. 4 months later I was facing homelessness. This country has failed us all.
All at the whim of a corporation. We just have to hope the CEO doesn’t get ousted or change their mind. Edit ———— For further information: “Effective January 1, 2023, out-of-pocket costs for insulin are capped at $35 per monthly prescription among Medicare Part D enrollees under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). A similar cap takes effect in Medicare Part B on July 1, 2023.” And Biden and the Dems have been fighting to cap it at $35 for everyone. Senate Republicans killed a proposal last year to cap out of pocket costs at $35. Thanks Democrats. Fuck you Republicans.
This actually surprised me a lot that... Insulin isn't free (It's always been free where I am from) and can even cost up to $3.000 per month. Sounds crazy to me to pay that much to just live
I'm happy to live in Sweden. If you're diagnosed with diabetes and needs insulin, it's free.
My son was diagnosed with type 1 more than ten years ago. In the past, we've paid up to $800 per month for three vials of Novolog, until a wonderful young man in the pharmacy told us about the manufacturer's discount program. It was free, quick and easy to sign up, and ever since then we've paid $25.00 per month for the same three bottles of insulin. If you or someone you know uses insulin, contact the manufacturer and ask them if they have any discount programs or financial assistance. Many do but you have to ask.
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I take a pill that is $2,000 a month to buy a bottle. I got accepted into this program which drops it down to $150 a month. It's not the best just off to pay for it but it's so much better than 2k. This insulin could be better but a win is a win, so I'm going to take the small win.
This tough looking guy has lovely eyes lmao
Nothing changed in the way it’s made or the scarcity or raw materials or the patents (there are none). The company decided to be less greedy for a moment after some bad press. They don’t deserve praise, they should be hit with a class action lawsuit for gouging for so long.
35$ is not really what I consider "free" but good news I guess for America. Can't relate, I'm Canadian.
When it was $3,000 this is huge news.
At this point, how were you even supposed to survive??
Same as always: eat the weak, rob the poor, be rich.
$3000pm for insulin? That definitely killed some people. Charming
I'm completely blown away by this revelation. Not that they reduced the price, no, the fact that the sell price was 3000 dollar in the first place, hit me in the face. I knew that Americans were ripped off by big corporations, but I never realised how much they were ripped off. 3000 dollar??? For only 1 month of insuline??? A household of two makes about 3000 a month, those companies know that. The amount needed for a single person costs a couple of tens of dollars, not more, so that price you have to buy them for is completely arbitrary. They raise the production price with 10000% for the sale, that's insane! And for a product that people need to stay alive. And because the companies know about the price and the fact that most people don't make that much money, means they deliberately deny people the product that keeps them alive. They literally kill people! How have they never been sued by the US government for this??? Why do Americans allow this to happen? Why is there no revolt against this sociopathic behaviour? Where is the American Revolution against the capitalist companies? Rise up people, you are being exploited, you are being trampled and drowned, why are you not fighting this?
God damn this son of a bitch is handsome.
My friend died because he couldn't afford his insulin. He never asked anyone for help, never told anybody he couldn't afford it. His family only worked it out after the fact.
It’s for people on medicare
Merica! Fuck yeah!
r/orphancrushingmachine
How in the world do we go from insulin coating $3000 to $35?!?! In what world were they thinking they could charge that asinine amount and then now just say they only need to charge $35?! Do not misunderstand. I'm ecstatic that the price is so low. I'm just trying to understand how the price could have been so high and then they just say "Ope, it's just $35 now."
Pharmacy tech here, make sure when your doctor writes an insulin prescription, the days supply for the prescription does not go over 30 days. When billing insurance, it is billed by months, usually 1 or 3 months. As soon as the prescription hits the 31st day, the prescription will be billed to the insurance like it is another month. So instead of $35 for a 31 day supply. It would be $70 for a 31 day supply. At the pharmacy this is easily changed. We drop the quantity by one pen and you save $35 but the amount of insulin you get is less. Hope that helps, have a good night
Can someone pretend to be the Government and say student loans are now forgiven and it’ll be paid by idk companies who did foul shit and have to pay back profits and see if it kinda works lol
americans are stupid..
Congratulations on becoming a semi-functioning society! Yay! In UK, insulin is free. And for T1 diabetics, all prescribed medication is free, for life. But, you know, enjoy your freedom!
They are capping the out of pocket costs not the price , what’s insurance going to pay (and raise premiums)? What if you don’t have insurance?
As a T1 diabetic I have very mixed feelings about this. Part of me is so happy and the other part is so sad because insulin should never should have been this ridiculously expensive. So many people have died because they couldn’t afford insulin. This just makes me sick but on the other hand, hopefully fewer people will die. Also, if it weren’t for the ACA my insulin would cost me about $3,600 a month. ‘Merica!
I wish this happened two years ago. My friend would still be alive.
The US is fucked - as someone who comes from a country with free healthcare this is just a crazy scenario to me, I sincerely hope that you guys will eventually get free healthcare because holy shit
This is fucked up while I do understand it’s so incredible in comparison but it is insane still here in Australia ur insulin costs no more than 8$ a month based on income (I still think it should just be free tho)
This is an awesome step forward, it's a really good thing, but let's not kid ourselves, Eli Lilly knew what was happening long before this, they knew people were dying because they couldn't afford life saving medicine that they produce for pennies. So let's not pretend they're doing this because they suddenly grew a conscience.
Just a note they literally could have done that at any time and saved a lot of lives. It's good news, but also noone forget they literally could have done this at any point.
Muuurica... the freedom nation... And the biggest third world country. I love living in the country where since last 20 years we didn't have any terrorist attack and we have maybe not the best but free healthcare system. Ow... and having single full time job is a standard, there is not much people working overtime and almost no-one works in two jobs.
As a British person I was looking at this thinking “35$ seems kinda expensive I mean I get my Ritalin for free so paying that much every month seems kinda fucky” was literally thinking that the old price must have been like 70 or something and they cut it in half and then I heard three fucking thousand and I now question how America still has living people in it
As a type 1 diabetic this make me so happy to hear ☺️
And let’s not make out Eli Lily to be a hero in all of this. They’re a scum corporation that could back pedal this decision so that they can hit their quarterly targets. Federal regulations are still needed to reign in these scumbags.
It was criminal that they were ever able to jack up prices like this. Glad to see that humanity and decency is winning in this instance. 🙏🏽
The real crime here is that this could have been the price for years. They just now see the writing on the wall. Be reasonable or the Federal government will make you reasonable.
Cool, now do the same thing with Lantus and it will actually prevent people from fucking dying. You can have all the humalog you want, but if you can't take any long lasting insulin you're still screwed.
And it proves they could have only been charging this all along but we’re prepared to let people die to make more money..
So happy about this medical development but my god that man has some beautiful eyes
Thank you Joe Biden!
Sure now the winds turn. We won't forget the agony these companies inflicted in the name of profit. I am not impressed with them changing direction as soon as the social and political landscape changes. Too much blood on their hands in the name if endless profit. Fuck them, fuck them, fuck them
Insulin costs $10.2 USD a month in India which also exports and fulfills 82% of Insulin supply to North America. $35 is okay but $3000, somebody is really making money off of people lives :(
Lol people didn’t start talking about how expensive insulin is last year. They have been talking about it for decades
A friend died of diabetic shock 2 years ago because he couldn’t afford his insulin. He left behind an 8 year old son. It shattered our community.
Just remember they could have done this at any time. They're still a horrible corporation. The GOP is also trying to take credit in some places. Don't let them. They voted against this.
This money-is-everything-supporting-others-is-socialism kind of mentality in many issues in the USA, makes zero sense to the rest of the world. USA surely is a totally different world...
my cousins child died from no insulin. he had just turned 19 and didn’t have medical insurance. thank goodness for this change.
It’s a law that it will be capped because Democrats.
fucking finally Eli lily can go burn with all of the other big pharma and chemical companies
Pharmaceutical companies are literal scum
Do not mistake this for the company being nice or some shit. Had things not happened exactly the way they did, they'd still be at it. We should rely on such unique circumstances to ensure ethics in the world
Single Payer Healthcare in America is the way to go. It’s ridiculously to do this drug by drug, procedure by procedure. Should we do a cancer treatment next or just get a better system?
the fact that they had the ability to do this years ago yet chose to inflate the price for decades for profit is the real story here
Fun fact: Sir Frederick G Banting (the guy who literally discovered it) made it so that it WOULD be cheap and accessable. So the fact that it isn't is awful.
I guess a lot of Americans are diabetic
He's fit xD
Elon fanboys amirite /s
Some cities hand out free syringes to drug addicts and provide a safe place to shoot up. And people who need a drug to live can’t afford it and could die. Why can’t we just hand out free insulin.
Because capitalism is more important than human lives, apparently.
Ahhh yes…
The price of it coming down is fine and all.. but when you have a listers and celebrities buying and using it for accelerated weight loss, doesn’t do much good when the pharmacies can’t get it due to “shortage”
Made my hair do that fuzzy thing tbh. Good news tho.
While I am glad this has happened, this does not change the fact that when our daughter was first diagnosed, her insulin was $1000 a month. We were very fortunate to have a very generous and helpful Doctor who helped us navigate back doors to discounts, but we met many people who did not have the same opportunities. We shared insulin with a number of families who could not afford it which infuriatingly was illegal. For us it was worth the risk to help another family save their kids life even though it put us on the margin for how much insulin my daughter had. She was never in danger. We just never had a back up, but other families were able to keep their kids out of danger. Now Eli Lilly comes out and makes this big change but nobody’s talking about how even at $35 that’s still far more than it cost to actually make. Even worse, check out the history of, the invention of insulin and how it was supposed to be free until corporate greed stepped in.
This really made me cry today. I have a friend who literally had to export insulin from her home country to be able to afford it. Because THAT was cheaper than to get it here. This is going to be so life changing for so many people, this is going to save so many lives. I know nothing about Eli Lily, but as long as this stays true, I am just so elated to hear that the future of so many people’s lives just got rewritten.
On the other hand, the rest of Eli Lilly’s drug prices will be increasing. I’m so tired of the American healthcare system.
Motherfucker you should be getting it for free. We literally get it for free in any Pharmacy around. Thirdy-fucking-five for INSULIN? Thats basic medicine to keep people alive. That country is a joke when it comes to literally protecting those who live in it, because, amazingly, some people don't 35 dollars to spend a month on basic medicine. (yes it is huge, but it shouldn't be, don't get mad at me for pointing out what is wrong with your country, get mad at those who do that to ur beloved country)
Nothing really holding them to it in long term. Hope we can remember this when/if they raise the prices again in the future.
#THIS IS GREAT! CAN I GET UN ON THE CLASS ACTION FOR PRICE MANIPULATION!