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09 - The Bitter Cost of Insulin
13 Plays1 day ago
The patent for insulin, this incredible substance that has saved millions of lives, was sold for 1$ back when it was discovered in 1921. The goal was to never, ever, let this discovery be used for profit - it was supposed to be a family inheritance for humanity by the benevolent scientists that made this groundbreaking discovery.
100 years later, today, a vial costs 3-6 dollars to produce, yet it's sold for over 400$. Because of this, millions of Americans need to ration their insulin. How on earth did we get here?
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Transcript
The Cruelty of Diseases vs. Human Inventions
00:00:18
Speaker
George Orwell told us that people talk about the horrors of war, but what weapon has a man invented that even approaches in cruelty some of the commoner diseases?
00:00:33
Speaker
Natural death, by definition, almost always means something slow, smelly, and painful. Americans are dying of natural but preventable diseases, yes.
00:00:46
Speaker
They're also dying because they cannot afford medications that were intended to be cheap or even free and would have prevented those deaths.
Understanding Diabetes and Insulin Dependency
00:00:55
Speaker
For example, childhood onset diabetes usually arises because the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the beta cells of the pancreas.
00:01:03
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This is the only cell type that produces insulin. People with diabetes must learn to inject themselves with insulin formulations to regulate their blood glucose. Without insulin, a diabetic patient may experience thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, unintentional weight loss, fatigue, irritability, and fruity-smelling breath.
00:01:27
Speaker
This last symptom, sounds cute, is actually a dangerous sign of progression to diabetic ketoacidosis. This is a dangerous condition where the blood pH plummets from the normal 7.4 to 7 or less, and this state of acidity can kill.
The Tragedy of Unaudordable Insulin
00:01:46
Speaker
Aaron Wilson Weaver of Hartford, Tennessee, had a son, Josh, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 8 years old. Josh grew up managing his condition along with 30 million other Americans who depend on insulin to control their diabetes. He eventually was unable to afford that insulin because the cost kept rising, up to $1,064 month. His rent was month,
00:02:15
Speaker
it was a choice and he began to ration his insolin not long afterwards Josh's fiance found him on the floor of the shower in a diabetic coma.
00:02:27
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He was transported to the local hospital in cardiac arrest. Erin Weaver made the difficult decision to remove life support for her son.
00:02:39
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He died in 2019 at
The History and Economics of Insulin
00:02:42
Speaker
the age of 27. Erin was quoted in a local news story saying that the reason for her son's death was greed This tragic outcome, which is not uncommon, would have appalled the Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who discovered insulin as a biologically active factor in the pancreas of dogs in their experiments at the University of Toronto in 1921.
00:03:08
Speaker
Those investigators sold the patent for insulin for $1 each, in the belief that insulin should belong to the world and never be used to make a profit. Large pharmaceutical companies, sensing the inelastic demand for insulin and the enormous market, monetize the need.
00:03:26
Speaker
The rest is sad history. The cost to produce vial of insulin is still low, about $3-$6 per sample, but the retail price can now exceed $400.
The Reality of Insulin Rationing in America
00:03:40
Speaker
Recently, the number of Americans who ration insulin because they cannot afford it has been estimated to be about 1.3 million people, or about 16.5% of all patients.
00:03:52
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The price has more than doubled since 2012 and more than tripled since 2002. With adjustment for inflation, there has been an increase of 700% in the cost of insulin in recent years.
00:04:06
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The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 empowered Medicare to cap the out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $35 a month. And President Joe Biden often took credit for this accomplishment of his administration.
00:04:19
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Since Josh was not yet 65 years old and therefore not eligible for Medicare, this provision would not have been any help to him. In a depressingly predictable and vengeful fashion, Donald Trump has taken steps to reverse Biden policies about prescription drug pricing.
00:04:40
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Although the $35 a month cap for insulin is still in place for Medicare-eligible Americans over 65, there is concern that Trump will attempt to eliminate this provision of the law.
00:04:52
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Such a step is not possible by executive order and will require an act of Congress. The big beautiful bill of 2025 will in fact result in higher costs for Medicare beneficiaries who must take certain expensive drugs.
00:05:08
Speaker
The annual hospitalization rate for diabetic crises is about 231,000 cases. But these are only the acute cases. Diabetes is also a chronic disease that over years can cause blindness, kidney failure, diabetic neuropathy.
00:05:25
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This last condition can lead to amputations of toes, feet, legs.
Healthcare as a Right vs. Commodity
00:05:34
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The United States is unique among modern wealthy nations for the country's stubborn, stupid inability to decide the question of whether basic healthcare is a right that should be afforded to all citizens, or a commodity that is available only to those who can pay for it.
00:05:53
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If it's a commodity, insulin and other costly but essential drugs will be priced at what the market will bear. And Americans will continue to die because, for many, their medications simply cost too much.
00:06:09
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This is the bitter price of freedom from universal healthcare care and regulated pricing of prescription drugs. The freedom to stay alive is apparently secondary to the corporate need for profit.
00:06:24
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Is death really that much better than Canadian-style socialized medicine? Americans are all equal, we are told, but some who have money are more equal than others, as Orwell already showed us.
00:06:40
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The rest of the advanced democracies of the world look on at the tragedy of American healthcare care and are as appalled as Banting and Best would have been.
A Call for Health Justice and Equity
00:06:53
Speaker
Aaron Weaver, if you should hear this podcast, I'm so sorry. I cannot imagine how terrible it was have to bury Josh.
00:07:07
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You're not alone. one of many. Will not give up until we achieve health justice and health equity. Let's stick together.
00:07:30
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Fifth Column Podcast. If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to subscribe on the platform of your choice and to share our podcast with whomever you think might resonate with our message and our mission.
00:07:43
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00:07:54
Speaker
See next time.