For diabetic Americans, the price of insulin has been a serious problem for many. According to StatNews, one vial of insulin in 2019 costs around $300 with heath insurance(StatNews). In comparison, the equivalent amount of a basic antibiotic costs around $30(Walgreens). In the American health insurance system, many people are forced to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a necessity. According to a Washington Post article, one American shows that a 30-day supply of insulin cost them $1,389.92 without insurance. However, at a recent presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed that he helped drop the price of insulin drastically; this was clearly false. Although he claims that the price was unbelievably cheap, it still costs many people a hefty check. The problem with charging such high prices for a lifesaving drug is that many Americans with diabetes are unable to afford this without insurance, and health insurance isn’t a cheap alternative. Most people get health benefits through their employers since the cost of independent health insurance can be very high; however, with millions of Americans being laid off as a result of COVID-19, there has been a drastic increase in unemployment numbers. This means that millions of Americans are without health insurance. Sadly, the manufacturers of insulin are allowed to charge whatever prices they want for their product as a result of US law and lack of competition within the market, and the availability of health insurance has decreased in the past few years especially as a result of the ongoing pandemic. As Spivak has taught us this semester, the voices of diabetic people are going unheard because the producers of the drug are able to get away with price gouging. This is strictly due to the fact that the producers of insulin want to keep the price high to take advantage of people. This could be a life-threatening issue for many people in underserved areas who have lost their jobs in the past few months. For those who cannot afford their necessary medication, they are left to search for alternatives, as unhealthy as they may be; this is an example of systemic injustice because it is basically a group of wealthy people using their economic leverage against the less fortunate. People like Donald Trump have no problem claiming that the price of insulin is affordable because they know that price isn’t an issue, but there is an overwhelming percentage of the population that would disagree and are as vulnerable as ever.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/30/trump-insulin-cost/
https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/29/trump-insulin-fact-check/
https://www.walgreens.com/images/adaptive/pdf/psc/PSCBrochure-English-20180628.pdf
I found your post to be very interesting. My grandma’s both were/are diabetic and I know little details about how they received their insulin. I know they both have insurance but unsure at what costs were covered and what they had/have to pay towards insulin. To hear that insurances will put insulin at any price is hard to hear. The people who probably need it the most are unable to afford it because of not having insurance, a job or both.