​The Exorbitant Cost of Diabetes Drugs Killed This Man
​After a GoFundMe campaign fell short, the man died due to diabetes complications
By Ian Servantes
Just last week, we ran a story on a survey revealing that the richest one percent of Americans live an average of 10 years longer than the poorest one percent. For anyone with a heart, it’s a disheartening discovery. And a new Vice story puts a face to the issue of wealth inequality and health, showing that people are quite literally dying because of the high price of insulin.
The hormone is vital for everyone with type 1 diabetes and some with type 2, and yet prices have only risen steadily over the past 95 years, the Washington Post reports. This makes the average out-of-pocket cost $360 per month for Americans with diabetes, according to an international survey.
Shane Patrick Boyle was killed last month by type 1 diabetes. After traveling from Texas to Arkansas to be with his dying mother, who passed a week before him, his insurance wouldn’t cover his prescription out of state, Vice’s Tonic reports. He attempted to raise $750 on GoFundMe to cover the entire cost, falling $50 short. And after trying to stretch his remaining medication as long as possible, he developed diabetic ketoacidosis, a fatal complication of diabetes resulting from the body no longer being able to move glucose from blood into cells.
If an ACA plan doesn’t have an out-of-state network, it’ll only cover emergency or urgent care and not prescriptions. This gap in coverage, in addition to the insane price of insulin, is what killed Boyle.
Bernie Sanders has called for a federal investigation into suspected collusion in the high price of insulin, and even Donald Trump said the pharmaceutical industry is “getting away with murder.” If Trump really does believe that, he needs to support a healthcare plan that’ll make coverage more affordable, not more expensive.