Doctors hope price caps reduce insulin rationing

Felisha Thrash looks at her phone to check her glucose levels.

“I have to check my levels 4 to 5 times a day,” Thrash said.

As a type one diabetic, she scans her levels from just about anywhere, including in her car and at the grocery store.

“Thank god for the Libre,” Thrash said. “I’m so glad that some scientists came up with that idea for the Libre because I noticed that a lot of people just don’t like poking their fingers. It does hurt.”

A Libre is a glucose monitoring device some diabetics use, but it can be expensive so a lot of people still check levels through other devices.

However, the devices aren’t the issue. It’s the cost.

In 1982, when insulin was first introduced, a vial would cost about $14 for a 30-day supply. But, over the past three decades, the price of the same amount has increased to an average out-of-pocket cost of $58.

Pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi recently announced their plans to lower the cost of their insulin products by as much as 75% in hopes it “discourages rationing” and “improves access and affordability.”

“If you don’t have the right amount of medicine, it will spiral your diabetes out of control,” Thrash said.

Chief of Endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Dr. Janice Hwang said rationing insulin can lead to long-term health complications, such as vision loss and nerve damage.

“There’ve been many studies reported where, you know, if you allow access to the medications that they need and get their diabetes under better control, downstream, there is huge savings to the whole healthcare system,” Hwang said.

Before being properly diagnosed, Felisha Thrash said she almost lost her eyesight and was in and out of hospitals.

“If you don’t have the right amount of medicine, it will spiral your diabetes out of control,” she said.

Hwang and Thrash also said it’s more than just cutting the cost of insulin. Having access to good health insurance to help cover these expenses also goes a long way.

But Thrash said she is powering through.

“I want to be able to see 80, 85, 90, and if I get my diabetes in control, I will be able to see that age,” she said.

That will become easier as the price of insulin goes down.

Camila Pereira, a journalism major at the University of Florida, contributed this story as part of the 2023 CBC-UNC Diversity Fellowship. Reach her at linkedin.com/in/camilapereira-134340/.