When people die from lack of access to medicine, health care profiteers should expect resistance.
“Insulin products costs very little to manufacturer, but prices have skyrocketed in recent years. A vial of insulin that once cost around $25 now goes for about $400 to $500. The activists are demanding that Sanofi immediately lower the price of its insulin products by 90 percent.
…"Dr. Vikas Saini, co-director of the Right Care Alliance and an organizer of the protest, pointed to recent researchshowing that the cost of manufacturing insulin is so low that companies like Sanofi could drastically reduce their prices and still enjoy a 500 percent retail markup. Saini said insulin has been around for a century and costs about $5 to manufacture, so nobody should die from lack of access.
…"Under a for-profit health system, even people who have health coverage can find medicine unaffordable.
…"The three major insulin manufacturers have come under increasing pressure to lower prices as this crisis continues to make headlines.Â
…"A class-action lawsuit filed in a federal court in New Jersey accuses Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi of acting like an insulin “cartel” and raising prices “in lockstep,” and the court recently granted the Type 1 Diabetes Defense Foundation permission pursue a parallel lawsuit against insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers for their role in the affordability crisis, along with manufacturers.”
Insulin made a disease that used to be a death sentence into a manageable chronic illness. According to what I looked up the average life expectancy of someone with Type 1 diabetes is somewhat shorter than someone without it. But that is into their 60’s as opposed to into their teens if diagnosed as a child.
Insulin is a marvel of modern medicine that allows people to live DECADES longer than they would for not much money in production cost.
There is no excuse for this.
