Costly Decisions Facing Diabetics Today

Leanndra Thompson reached shakily toward one of the grocery store shelves, she could feel her body shutting down. As Thompson frantically opened a package of donuts, she realized it was already too late, her blood sugar was too low. Unable to move, she seized and crashed to the floor.

This was not the first time Thompson had woken up in the hospital due to her diabetes, and she feared it would not be the last.

Thompson is one of many diabetics who are greatly impacted by the rapidly rising cost of insulin, a medication vital to their health. Thompson, like many others, has Type 1 diabetes, meaning that insulin is not important for just her health, but her survival.

Unlike Type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by the inability of one’s body to effectively utilize the insulin being produced, those affected by Type 1 diabetes do not produce any insulin on their own at all. Insulin is a hormone necessary for one’s body to function, as it allows glucose to enter the body’s cells instead of building up in one’s bloodstream. Without a constant supply of glucose to every cell, the body would shut down.

Over the past six years the price of insulin has risen drastically, with some companies having increased the medication price by more than 500 percent.

“You can buy regular insulins, like Humulin R, at Walmart without a prescription, but it used to be $20 for a vial of it … Now it’s $156,” said Angela Hammond, a diabetes educator and nurse practitioner.

These growing medication prices, some of which amount to hundreds of dollars, have become a dangerous financial burden for diabetics like Thompson. The high costs have caused many patients to risk their health in an attempt to stretch out their insulin, some even skipping it for a day, because they could not afford it.

“For a while I was put on the pump, but my doctor hadn’t prescribed me enough insulin for what I needed each month. I was running out of insulin halfway through the month, but my insurance wouldn’t pay for any more, so I had to start rationing out my insulin,” Thompson said. “A couple times, it has gotten to the point where I’ve had to go and buy it myself out-of-pocket. One tube of my insulin costs about $150 and for me, paying that has sometimes meant not being able to buy all of the groceries I need.”

Even with good insurance, it has not been guaranteed that the appropriate amount of medication will always be covered. Monthly restrictions placed on prescription refills by insurance companies have caused patients to suffer when their insulin has not lasted them as long as intended.

“If my daughter’s insulin got warm, if for some reason the refrigerator broke and it wasn’t kept cool, the insulin would be ruined, it wouldn’t work … If that happens, or if she lost it or something, then she would have to ration, literally meaning she wouldn’t be able to eat as much, she couldn’t eat any carbohydrates,” said Kelly Darragh, parent of a Type 1 diabetic.

For people with diabetes, being able to maintain healthy insulin levels is vital to their long-term health. In addition to the struggles they have always faced, diabetics are now also faced with the constant fear of their medication becoming a financial obstacle in their lives.

“It’s scary knowing that in the future I’ll always have to, or at least I should, find a job that has good insurance because without it my medication adds up to a whole lot of money,” said Hannah Jones, a 22-year-old Type 1 diabetic. “For my insulin alone, before insurance, it’s hundreds of dollars for a box that will last me a month. Each supply of the test strips costs about $60, and that’s just for a little bottle. If I am checking my blood sugar all day every day, as I’m supposed to, I’ll go through that little bottle in one week.”

April 9, 2019 | By Katherine Fish