Humans require insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate glucose in the blood, to live.
A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School, the City University of New York’s Hunter College and Public Citizen, found that 1.3 million Americans rationed insulin due to the high costs of insulin in 2021.
That number represents an estimated 16.5% of the US population with diabetes.
Black insulin users were more likely to report rationing insulin, at 23.2%.
The study found insulin rationing was most commonly reported by those without health insurance coverage and individuals under the age of 65 not eligible for Medicare.
One vial of Humalog cost $21 (£18) in 1999 and jumped to $332 (£287) in 2019. US prices for insulin have soared in recent decades. Yet prices have remained relatively the same and at a fraction of US prices in every other industrialized nation.
Without health insurance over-the-counter insulin can costs more than $1,000 (£865) a month. Even with health insurance coverage, insulin still costs a few hundred dollars every month,
Because you can’t afford the $100 (£86), that’s insulin rationing. You’re withholding a vital hormone for life. When somebody is rationing, it’s simply because the pharmaceutical companies are putting their profits over patients’ lives.
Diabetes is currently the seventh-leading cause of death in the US, though a 2017 study suggests the number of Americans dying from diabetes is much higher due to diabetes frequently being overlooked in causes of death.
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