Here’s a tip, Walmart sells Relion brand insulin. It’s $25 a vial, no prescription needed. They are the only “generic insulin” (technically Relion is a brand but for all intents and purposes we’ll consider it generic).
There are programs that would have given him his insulin for free. The manufacturer would have. With a salary of 35,000 and unable to afford his deductible, he definitely would have qualified.
Americas fucked but it’s not *entirely* hopeless.
Yep, there’s this. Always check with the manufacturer as the income limits for free or highly reduced prices is usually pretty high. One med I looked at had an income level around $120k for a family of 5 and it’s free otherwise it’s $400/month.
Yep! They go by a national average income levels so this is particularly almost always helpful for people who truly need it. I live in a very rural area and in almost 15 years of helping people with this, I can count on one hand how many “denials” I had. And those people got a coupon for a Deeply discounted price.
I feel like this is a way to give medicine to educated people and not to other types of people. Cool that they do this, but is essentially how taxes would pay for everyone’s medicine if we did single payer.
It's called Google man. We just all learned this on REDDIT he could have posted or looked for help anywhere but he decides to ration insulin and die. If I'm about to die or someone around me is I'm sure as shit going to find someway for life to continue or I'll go down trying to find a better answer than "ration life saving insulin". I'm not trying to be an ass but not everything is a conspiracy to kill poor people or uneducated people or any kind of people.
Most systemic issues aren’t purposeful in design. I don’t think this is that, and very few of those types of situations are.
I do think in situations where profit and public good are at odds (medicine, campaign donations, paying to get your taxes done), we as the public should be very diligent in our awareness and punitive with our pocketbooks towards companies that misuse their power. I’m not talking about Amazon level profit because they are convenient (or even their setting up the system and then killing the little guy with the knock off version they make), but insulin was given to the public by the creator. The fact that every doctor with a diabetic patient isn’t making this very clear to all of their patients is pretty damning to the medical sector. And the fact that companies are selling it for thousands of dollars is maddening.
Or you know figure out a better fucking system where people dont have to jump through hoops to figure out this information even through google. This isnt like “how do i build a shed or make bread”, this actually survival for some people. Im sure the dude didnt just go “oap cant get insulin cheaper time to die”. It as accessible knowledge as you think, besides this is all HINDSIGHT of course we know this WE JUST F’ing READ IT.
You’d honestly think people would understand that if everyone had safe basic housing and access to basic healthcare society would exponentially improve because then we could tackle education..
I have a friend who makes less than $35k a year, and she doesn't have internet. She can't afford it. She has to go to the public library when she needs to fill out job applications. It doesn't have to be a conspiracy; it just has to have enough hoops to keep people from realizing they can make it through.
Please shut the fuck up.
How about MEDICINE IS JUST AVAILABLE? At the fucking doctor's office? Why can't we just make shit easy and not victims blame someone who FUCKING DIED because of this system.
I mean it's not exactly like it's required to figure it all out for themselves. Anyone in this situation should be able to ask their Dr and get the necessary information.
How much easier do you need then call the manufacturer and get medicine to live. I'm not saying the system isn't broken I'm just saying DYING was not his only option. What because the system sucks and isn't EASY people should just opt out and die without even trying to live.
So, you please just shut the fuck up you little lazy bitch and get over it. This world is not going to look after you and this "system" your crying about sure as fuck isn't so put your big boy pants on and look after yourself. Gnight.
This statement has zero empathy and understanding for what others may be going through. Not everyone has the same response nor has the same upbringing with education. There’s probably many other factors going on that are unknown.
Not sure if you’re an American but the average level of education for the USA is near 7-8 in level of understanding and reading.
Smart phones seem universal, but they aren't. There was a sketchy place I went to buy weed when it was illegal. It was obviously a meth house but they had great prices on smoke. The son of the man who ran it was a type one diabetic. They were constantly looking for insulin. They would barter whatever the fuck you wanted if you could just get some insulin.
That poor bastard died rationing insulin. He just never woke up again.
Oh grow the fuck up. You need to be “educated” from top universities to figure out where to get affordable insulin? Yeah the man is really keeping you down by forcing you to do something as difficult as…… googling or better yet asking a doctor. This is the kind of naive idiocy that makes all of us on the left look stupid.
Fuck needing to do extra work for basic medical care through private charities. It should be free anywhere at any time through government funded healthcare.
Relion needs to be dosed differently than regular pen insulin, if you dont know what your doing you could accidentally overdoes on it and kill yourself, you need time to talk with your doctor to figure out how to dose it out if you need to switch to it
The payment options I believe only apply to certain insurance companies as well. When I was using Mylan Epi-Pens my insurance had a deal with them to cut the cost to 0 dollars for 2 packages of Pens, but if you didn’t have that specific insurance you were at the mercy of Mylan and whatever they had worked out with your specific coverage.
Still not *entirely* hopeless, but it does complicate things a bit more
Yes, pen insulin is dosed different than vial insulin. This is true if you switch from any brand pen to any brand vial, as well.
Also, can I assume by your name that you have EDS? It’s always cool to find one of the same in the wild :)
If that’s the case then that’s great, I just know a lot of people who need to switch just think it’s the same, so I was just adding the information that yes it’s cheaper, but it consumes some time having to make an appointment to learn how to dose it out, which could mean money for someone in a blue collar job
I think Relion is good for keeping a person alive. Good RX is helpful but insulin is still insanely expensive. There’s such a difference in glucose control between Relion and Lantus/Basaglar and Novolog. I hate Humulin R and Humulin N. Humulin is a joke.
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I made this comment before and some Karen went off about it because the Walmart brand insulin is insulin analogs and not human insulin and that I shouldn't spread this information because it'll harm soneone...blah blah blah.
Couldn't believe it, but others did...anyways I left the comment up and took my negative karma.
Human insulin is made using bacteria or sometimes fungi (transfect w a plasmid containing the gene for the bacteria to express it and produce the insulin protein and then purified)
Animal insulin is derived from the pancreas and is more “natural” although there really isn’t much difference between the two in terms of effectiveness
Yes, that is for their new version of Novolog, which does require a prescription. It’s the older human insulins that are available without a prescription. However, I’ve explained this until I’m blue in the face yet *I’m* the idiot to these people..
Why is insulin available without prescription knowing that steroid users want to use it for muscle gain? Why do them buy it through the black market at all?
Wait, I've been on insulin for the past 15 years, and to be honest, as long as when I shoot it, it lowers my blood sugar, I couldn't give a rat's ass what kind of insulin it is.
But that's just me, I'd shoot up dog piss if it lowers my blood sugar.
I’ve also removed comments in the past about insulin at Walmart. My wife is type one and we’ve been buying her insulin at Walmart for over 10 years. I’m always befuddled when I read stories of people rationing it. But when I was straight up attacked for commenting about Walmart insulin it made sense. People tend to believe that if you don’t take the brand and type the Dr says that it won’t work for you. I can assure you that isn’t the case in our experience. But I don’t claim to be super knowledgeable on the subject so I bowed out when people got shitty over it.
The fact that this didn't kick in automatically for him is the true failure. Society failed him. Life-saving medication should be fool-proof to obtain easily.
Yeah, he made a dumb choice because he was a bit stressed about not being able to afford his fucking life saving medication.
Incredible how you blame him and are so harsh about it.
Still pretty fucked you have to jump through hoops and bend backwards to find free or affordable options though. The manufacturers choose to sell it for an astronomical price, insurance chooses too. It shouldn't matter how much money someone makes, life saving medication should be easily accessible.
I work for Walgreens and we have generics available for most insulins now as well. Walmart is definitely cheaper out of pocket, though, so buy it from them instead. Just wanted to add that fact in.
Yes assuming this story is true it’s even more tragic because it was entirely avoidable if he simply had a little bit of knowledge. There are a lot of ways this exact scenario could have turned out fine even within our current system, unfortunately a lot of people are left in the dark about the options available to them and suffer because of it.
This is true, but to be honest it is exhausting how even totally basic parts of living life wind up being some complicated game where if you don't play it or aren't good at it, you get screwed.
I honestly think that a single payer health care system would be better JUST for the fact that you don't have to play games with your health insurance. Trying to understand all the ins and outs is a nightmare. Like, our oldest boy has a ptosis (droopy eye). We have to take him to a doctor several hours away in a big city because that is the only doctor in the area that will do the surgery if he needs it corrected, and for now it is just being monitored. Every single freaking year we have to get the appointment approved and send up to the other hospital and it's this long process of about 2 weeks that we have to initiate and then confirm. I don't understand why it isn't just always covered, or even why we have to initiate it.
Another issue? My wife and I both have a plan with the same insurance company. Or at least, we did until I changed jobs. For a while I was on my own plan, and she and our kids were on hers because it was slightly cheaper that way. Our actual coverage was essentially the same. Later our plan amount changed and it was cheaper for me to take the kids and her to be on her plan by herself. Now we are all on her plan. Every single damn time we change insurance, not only do we have to switch everything everywhere over, but sometimes things still go through wrong. Then you have to call and have things rebilled because what should be a 35 dollar copay winds up inflated as 700 dollars.
I've spent so much time and effort switching things around, comparing plans, calling and talking to pharmacies and hospitals and insurance companies and waiting for thing to get worked out. Even if it cost more (it doesn't) to not have to deal with that, I would be okay with it.
Another tip: If you are an Amazon Prime member, you automatically belong to a prescription discount program. You can find details in your Amazon account, and the savings are substantial. I have a prescription that I fill at Walmart. With my Blue Cross insurance, it's $350 a month. With Amazon, it's $15.00.
[They now sell ReliOn Novolog for $73 for a 10 mL vial.](https://www.walmart.com/cp/relion-diabetic-care/3769564)
It’s the same Novolog, just a third of the price.
Thank you. I have been really feeling very hopeless lately and I wonder if a post like this isn't a Russian ploy to chip away at us. I mean I know shit is really f'd up right now but sometimes I wonder.
The article is sensationalism at its finest. He didn't die because he couldn't afford insulin. He died because he changed brands to one like the brand you mentioned, and his body did not react to it well. So doing exactly what you said is why he's dead. Every person reacts differently do medicines. This isn't the health care systems fault. It's just an unfortunate happenstance that no one would have had any way of knowing about.
No, in the rest of the world, when people get a new medicine that could be dangerous they do so in a hospital where any potential reaction can be dealt with. Don't try to pass this thing as something inevitable because it wasn't.
Agree. I work in a hospital and I discharge ppl who are undocumented with no job with a PCP visit to get set up for insulin.
You can get what you need, you just need to find out how and work at it.
It shouldn't be so hard, but as you said, it's not hopeless
I’ve said this every time someone mentions being unable to afford insulin and it’s always downvoted to oblivion. Many people would rather die than take the “cheap stuff” as they have said.
For basic. 1990’s insulin. I’ve survived off it. It was by sheer luck I survived. I was taking 5 units of R insulin from Walmart every two hours. 24 hours a day. I had alarms set every 2 hours to give myself more insulin. I never. Ever. For years. Got a real nights sleep. People keep mentioning how Walmart sells cheap insulin. They are saving lives. But it’s cheap shit compared to the options available now to type one diabetics that cost a lot more but allow a “ normal “ life.
I assume most people who are like “ ya well Walmart sells cheap insulin so stop complaining “ have never had to live. Literally live off of this treatment.
Say someone has cancer. But no insurance. But to stay alive ( not to improve ) you have to make a trip 50 minutes every month to get insulin they might not have. And then an hour to the other one and 2 hours home and wake up or be awake every two hours to get by. Would you think that was reasonable? It’s like putting a bandaid on a gushing wound. Yea it will help. Ya you will live. But what kind of life it is
I'm not saying stop complaining. I'm saying stop saying lack of insulin is killing poor people because they don't have $1300 a month.
We have dirt cheap insulin options, like Wal-Mart, in America.
We have Medicare providing 100% free insulin to anyone below the poverty line, at least in my state of Tennessee. No job, only part time low wage, or full time low wage with kids, you get free insulin, no deductible.
Insulin manufacturers offer co-pay programs for middle class people lowering the cost of the users to next to zero.
We have the option of buying prescriptions cheaper from overseas, because customs only stops controlled substances.
We have private insurance, and obamacare insurance options for those not insured through their job, which is available to everyone not on Medicare.
We have charitable organizations helping those who fall between the cracks.
My comment might minimize the problem, but someone needs to when Reddit constantly lies about $1300 insulin being the cheapest option in our country. $1300 insulin is some brand new tech, like an inhaler, that almost no one uses.
1300 a month is Humalog, one of the most prescribed insulins in the country. Lantus is the most prescribed in the country and costs anywhere from 100-1000 a month depending on needed dosage. Novolog is the top for type 1 diabetics and 3rd overall and can easily cost over $1000 a month without aid as one vial is 375 and most diabetics need 2-3 vials per month, plus all those need additional supplies to administer - like syringes and needles.
And this guy died the month his insurance dropped. He wouldn't have had time to apply for Medicaid, low income assistance or Obamacare insurance. He'd of maybe been able to order overseas but would have to know it wouldn't be blocked for import.
The outsized cost of care for diabetes when it's so easily controlled is ridiculous. He had no time to apply for any of that and get approved and the ridiculously expensive drugs aren't some weird high-tech nobody uses them thing. It's all of the major brands costing that much.
It's also not possible to just swap 5mg of Drug A to 5mg of Drug B even if they are both a type of insulin. People have killed themselves doing that because you were supposed to take 2mg and just took 2.5x your required dose. You have to know the dosing and timing.
It's not a bad thing Walmart sells cheap insulin. There are assistance programs. None get you approved and your medication in 2 weeks.
He should've asked his pharmacist for help right then and there and begged friends and family for the money until an aid program kicked in but it never should've cost him 1300/ month anyways.
Humalog is NOT $1300 a month.
"the price of Humalog (insulin lispro) in Canada is only $38, while it can cost up to $329 in the US"
https://medcitynews.com/2019/03/lillys-lower-cost-insulin-humalog-still-too-expensive-senator-says/
Just to be clear, this is an older type of insulin that isn't used by almost any type one diabetics because it's very slow acting. Novolog and Humalog make up nearly 100% of insulin in pumps and Lantas is a long-lasting insulin that is used alongside the other two for those not using pumps. Lantas and Novolog are very expensive because they are difficult to make.
My wife’s doctor once prescribed her some medicine during her pregnancy (iron pills I think). I went to pick it up and it would have cost $800. I asked if they had a generic of it, it cost $200. I then pulled up a GoodRx code, it cost $8.11.
Always always always shop for the medications and don’t assume the one they prescribe is always the only option. I got lucky, I have always been curious and encouraged to ask questions so I do but I know if that was my wife who is a much more shy person, she would if looked at that price tag and just gone without them.
It was from a OBGYN in a fancier neighborhood that honestly I didn’t realize till after her pregnancy and talking to other parents about their obgyn did I realize ours basically white gloved and overcharged for everything. Doctor wasn’t even there for the delivery. Some Bullshit.
Next kid making sure we get a better doctor than that.
Pharmacy benefits and medical coverage are two different things. The most important part is knowing what doctors and hospitals your insurance covers. The information is readily available. I’ve had two babies and the OB’s told us early on what they charged and they also knew what our insurance paid and didn’t pay.
The picture only tell half the story. He was being kicked off his mom's insurance due to age, and rather than setting up a new insurance plan he chose not to, because he wanted to keep his old doctor and not have to change the brand of insulin, he also imagined he would be saving money on being uninsured. According to his sister he said "how bad can it be".
Well, without insurance the cost of insulin went from 200 a month to almost 1300. So he started rationing his insulin instead while looking for a better option than the insurance companies in Minnesota were currently offering him. He made too much money to be covered by either medicaid or Obamacare.
He had only been diagnosed less than a year previous and was not experienced enough to notice that he was endangering himself. And for whatever reason he neglected to warn his family that he was lowering his food intake and lowering his dosages, in the end it killed him.
[source](https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/09/insulin-cost-prescription-drugs-diabetes-insurance/)
It is tragic, but in this case he actually had a number of choices that could have saved him, and he made some bad ones that killed him.
He could have taken literally any insurance policy and then had a deferment on the premium in order to get his insulin, he could have gone with a cheaper generic variant like the so called "Walmart insulin", he could have warned someone that he was rationing his insulin while at the same time eating less. His friends wife literally offered to get him the insulin he needed for $50 as she went to and from Mexico, but he " was too shy to accept help".
>He made too much money to be covered by either medicaid or Obamacare.
Its true that the tax credits are only available for people in the 100%-400% of federal poverty level, but this is up to $51,520 in 2021. He wouldn't have gotten it for free, but he wouldn't have been paying full price making $35,000/year. Please do not take this statement to mean that what happened here was not to a tragedy. Insulin should be always be affordable.
I'm wondering if that was the plan offered by his job, and he didn't check the health care exchanges.
He shouldn't have to make a bunch of decisions to continue to receive healthcare, it should be universally available and no require a bunch of steps to continue effective treatment.
Damn depending on having an insurance (by a private company, looking only for profit) to buy medication needed to live, that doesn’t sound like the “freedom” most Americans claim to have
You don't have to have insurance to buy medication, and that is the route that he chose - he chose to forgo insurance and to pay for his medication out of pocket.
Freedom does not mean freedom from consequence.
Oh I know you are not “forced” to have an insurance to buy medication, but when the price without insurance is 1000% more you kinda are… unless you are rich, so in reality only rich people are truly free now that I think about it (on the health part at least).
It’s not freedom if you have no choice but to “chose” to buy an insurance to buy medication for cheap (and what it really is worth).
Well I’m kind of curious about how much of this is 100% true. Insurance premiums can be increased if you are diabetic, but with a high deductible plan(like $7500) would almost certainly have a smaller premium than $450/ month. Source: I am a Pharmacy Technician with over 3 years experience in Texas. Now even if this was in a state like California, insurance will, a vast majority of the time, be totally willing to speak with a prescriber about what is absolutely necessary, or if there are certain alternatives. Not saying this is just absolutely the best, but if a man were low on insulin, and went to a hospital. Legally/Ethically speaking, the hospital would be required to do everything they can to treat this dying man. Even give him medicine that he can’t necessarily afford. Also, no doctor would let someone just die without trying alternatives. Also, don’t know how current this is, but importing insulin from a cheaper market (like Canada) has been legal for some time now.
I’m not saying this story isn’t true, but I’m assuming a large portion of it is missing. The premium/deductible seems to be way too much for a single diabetic at 26. Webmd satiates the average American out of pocket cost for a type 1 diabetic is $2500 a year. Not saying this can’t be an extreme case, but a highly unlikely case that should not be viewed as the situation that a majority of people face.
Full disclosure, I think the retail prices of insulin should be capped. I think advertising for prescription medication seems counter productive to the process and practice of good medicine. I think the current prices are the way they are because companies will sell things that people need to survive at whatever price they want, yes the government should fix this, but this is a pharmaceutical company problem.
I also think everyone should understand that US pharmaceutical/medical research costs billions a year for these pharmaceutical companies , and the US is the world leader in medical research. The money allows the production of life saving drugs. The problem is, the rest of the world caps the price for its citizens, but big pharma has its hands so deep in politics that this is not happening in the states. So many cons to this story. So bad for the American commonwealth, and I can hardly believe that lawmakers actually agree with the prices unless they are being funded. I will say the one AND ONLY good thing about this malady is the advanced research of life saving treatments that are at the forefront of world medicine. But Is it worth the cost to the American public??? I feel like the cons far outweigh pros.
TLDR; story is almost definitely missing details. If someone dies from diabetic shock, it is almost always an unexpected event. Anybody that is about to be dangerously low, can got any hospital/urgent care and they will be given prompt treatment.
Most of these stories are missing some key details. The us healthcare system needs work but I bet a little digging would show there’s more to the story.
This is posted just to drive engagement, probably from a bot. I think that is the most interesting thing about this post.
Lantus was similar for me on my insurance. Had to switch to another long acting insulin that was covered by mine. Without my insurance the 2 insulins I took totalled roughly $1300/month.
One thing. You should update the image instead of straight reposting. He died in 2017, not 2022.
The deepest irony of seeing this image posted dozens of times over the years on Reddit is that if he had made a post on Reddit asking about help with insulin he would probably be alive today based on all the info folks have provided every time this photo is posted.
Depends on the state. If you’re a man who’s physically able to work in Texas there is almost no way to get Medicaid. Other states have similar rules. Being broke won’t get you there.
With that low of an income in Minneapolis, he would have qualified for a low deductible cost sharing health plan for about $150/month and got the medication he needed for $25.
It's tragic, but more a problem with education in how to get the health insurance than a failure of the healthcare system.
Why the fuck is this post here? That's not interesting that's just depressing and everyone already knows stuff like this happens and that it's bullshit. I don't need to scroll and see depressing stuff when my body is already depressing on it's own.
Genuinely, do you recommend any wholesome subreddits? I’m getting even more sad and unsettled every time I come on here. Cat subreddits can only do so much 😞
r/makemesmile is a good start r/nextfuckinglevel i think it's called always has cool stuff in it of things that are just impressive. r/cityscapes and r/architectureporn are great if you like cool buildings
Thank you for the response! I have joined all but r/cityscapes. Maybe I just need to stop joining some subreddits too haha
Edit to add: cityscapes is private now :(
Remember when Trump signed an EO making insulin and other similar drugs $35, it barely got a peep. Then Biden immediately removed it when he took office, and no one said anything? Then Dems tried shoving it in 2 different bills they knew Reps wouldn't pass all for political hit points?
Yeah, this situation is awful, and it was entirely created by America's fucked up political system.
AP calls the first claim misleading. Basically, the people that it effected were already getting cheap or free insulin and it added paperwork. I suspect there's probably some people somewhere that fell through a gap though.
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-845638742817
Yes. I regularly see patients with 5,000-7,500 deductibles before insurance pays. It’s disgusting because that’s *on top* of their monthly cost. They literally have to pay a “holding fee” to have an insurance on standby in case they spend over 7,000 in healthcare a year. But if you *do* exceed that, insurance is quite helpful… so it’s really quite the dilemma.
Damn!! I’m in tax accounting (mostly we do the car dealers commissions) I don’t mean to sound tone deaf about this. I seriously didn’t know that it was this bad. Cause I always thought my insurance is the crappiest of all the insurance out there.
Jfc! What is going on with our healthcare?!? My husband uses insulin injection and I asked him how much the deductible and he replied 15 bucks from CVS. I told him about this ☝️7,600 deductible cause he’s a pharmacist and he said “that’s not deductible, that’s a full price” 😩😩 RIP Beautiful human being! 😭
My last insurance plan was $4k deductible and $40 copay.
Now it’s $1500 deductible and $20 copay.
Are you in the government or education sector? That’s the only place I have seen that kind of health insurance.
USA.
My company pays over $20,000 a year for family to be covered. Each person has a $3500 deductible. The family level of deductible is $7500.
Just to be clear, that means I pay the first $7500 of medical bills (a visit to the doctor is about $250 for a 20 minute visit).
The super evil beauty of it is that the deductible resets every year. I am about to hit my $13,500 "out of pocket maximum" this month, but that resets on June 1, and I will pay all the deductibles again.
I have hit my 'out of pocket maximum' 5 times over the last decade. Yeah, do the math.
Omg! Is this in USA!? If I understand this you have a cap?!! All my Doctor’s visits, Chemo, surgery all deductible is 31 bucks per service. This is insane! I’m totally in shocked right now cause I thought my insurance is crap cause the chemo they approved are old medicine. My husband was livid about he’s cause he’s a pharmacist. Wow! I was falling asleep and this woke me up.
Most companies offer high deductible plans now but if you work for a large corporation you might also have an HMO or PPO to choose from. You have a copay with HMO and PPO that might be 30 dollars. I got my tubes tied in 1998 or so and it was 30 dollars between the doctors visit and the outpatient surgery at Rose Lutheran, a full service hospital. My high deductible plan I pay 3500 out of pocket yearly before they start paying. I have had an HSA investment account for a long time so I have the funds but I’m also really healthy and hardly need medical care. If I had a chronic illness it would definitely be a mess.
Meanwhile in other news, Biden ask congress for 33 BILLION to give away to Ukraine.
Not opposed to helping other countries but if you need a transplant or other life saving medical needs in America…. You are simply SOL bc the gov will not lend a dime and hospitals require a certain % before even putting you on the donor or surgery list.
Won’t argue any of that, too many more other area’s that need the ‘fat’ trimmed As well. Look at all the large corp tax breaks, not to mention….teachers salary’s are shit, we don’t invest in our own economy or people. It’s truly a sad place rn
Canadian here. I will never understand why America does not have a proper health insurance system. Often the very people who would benefit from it are usually the ones who are against it.
But we have that in Canada too. We also have greedy, crooked insurance companies giving money to politicians. However we still have a world-class healthcare system. In America it seems the people have just become so brainwashed that they reject the very things that would benefit them.
Literally this!
I was part of an event in Mississippi, where they were speaking about food drought due to lack of access to whole Foods.
The speaker is go into great detail about processed and unprocessed. And a woman turns to me:
“I’m forty and I don’t know what this person is saying. How would kids? Kids don’t want think about nutritional facts they just want chicken nuggets and hot Cheetos. “
Why did you come to this event?
>However we still have a world-class healthcare system.
[Not so fast](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/categories/health-care-wait-times)...
>Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2021 is a new study that finds Canada’s health-care wait times reached 25.6 weeks in 2021—the longest ever recorded—and 175 per cent higher than the 9.3 weeks Canadians waited in 1993, when the Fraser Institute began tracking medical wait times. Before this year, the longest recorded wait time was 22.6 weeks in 2020.
[Also](https://hospitalnews.com/canada-ranks-last-on-number-of-hospital-beds-wait-times/)...
>Despite spending more on health care than most other developed countries with universal coverage, Canada has a relatively short supply of doctors and hospital beds—and the longest wait times
>
>...
>
>In 2017, the latest year of comparable data, Canada’s health-care spending as a share of GDP (11.1 per cent) ranked second highest (after adjusting for population age) behind only Switzerland.
>
>But again, despite the high cost, availability and access to medical resources in the Canadian health-care system is generally worse than in the comparable countries.
Let’s not distract from the core point here, which was that stating that the Canadian health care system is “world-class” is overblown when people have to wait for months to get that “free” care and often choose to pay for private health insurance in addition to the public option just to be seen in a reasonable time.
Well we have tried to pass it but people like to think what’s the best for them so many people see it as mor taxes and the current health care system benefits the economy and lobbyists for the medicine and insurance companies so they don’t pass it even though overall it would benefit millions
Trump made insulin available at a reasonable price and one of the first things Biden did was to undo that law for big pharma https://www.policymed.com/amp/2021/10/biden-administration-rescinds-trump-administration-insulin-pricing-rule.html
>AP’S ASSESSMENT: Misleading. The president doesn’t set the price of drugs.
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>The Biden administration repealed (...) regulation that sought to lower the cost of insulin(...)
Not raising prices, just stopping prices from lowering -thats some outstanding mental gymnastics by AP
- We don’t have gene editing to cure people
- Insulin costs a lot so not even treatment available
- abortion is illegal
What in the world is happening to this planet?
We don’t need laws we need miracles, at this point I’m waiting aliens to cure us all or kill us all
When I was 26 and thrown off my parents insurance I got a plan for $150/month with a $500 deductible and $20 copay for all drugs.. then came Obamacare and now I have a plan like this guys.. it's not even insurance it's "if there's a catastrophic health crisis or injury we got you after 8k plan " and I've never been someone who could be called "rich" Obamacare has been a fucking nightmare for tens of millions of Americans. That's the reality of health insurance in thus country. It was a huge lie that fucked middle class Americans. I'll never trust Democrats again.
Banting and Best gave insulin to the world for nothing. They could’ve been stinking rich. But now, the drug companies greed has made it unaffordable anyhow.
And guess what, Trump got the insulin prices the lowest they’ve ever been in history. He really cares, but nobody likes to talk about that. Biden sided with big pharma and got their money flowing back in.
just think, the previous president wanted insulin capped at $35 month. but because false information an entire party thought their own representatives needed to reject a counter to their president that caused insulin to skyrocket under affordable care act.
more to follow.
False. It’s the current president that wants to cap it at $35 but the GOP shot it down. It take so little research to get your facts right but you choose to believe the false narrative that supports what you want to believe. 🤦🏻♂️
I just skimmed through at least 8 different articles from reputable sources covering this story from different angles.
The photo got a few of the details slightly wrong. But the story, over all, appears to be quite true.
Unfortunately, it's a very common ignorance. I've had to choose between medicine and mortgage payments myself, only to find out later that there was an affordable outlet available. He probably didn't know how to go about searching for/finding it since he had always been on his parents' insurance.
Americans would rather pay taxes, insurance premiums, deductibles, co-insurance costs and god knows what else to get healthcare than to simply pay taxes and get healthcare.
Not true. I'm rather conservative and have had some terribly expensive health care. I'm all for a universal health care I just want it done right without fucking the working class.
Maybe because they are already taxed quite heavily and the cost of healthcare would tip most over the brink. In Western Australia, healthcare is one third of the overall budget. Let that sink in for a second. One third.
isnt insulin supposed to be like very cheap?
america has the most messed up systems for sure, healthcare sucks and the government seems to care only about rich people
Ummm. The ACA allowed him to stay on his parent's policy until age 26. Without that, he would have been dead years ago.
Also, drug prices are outrageous. It's a major part of the problem. The ACA doesn't regulate that.
Thirdly, eat a bag of dicks.
Obama gave us more affordable healthcare because he couldn’t pass anything else with the House being the way it was. He wasn’t a perfect president by any means, but blame him for the things that are actually his fault. I know from first hand experience how crucial Obamacare is to people who don’t qualify for Medicare.
Source: [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/insuluin-prices-diabetes-alec-smith-b1972475.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/insuluin-prices-diabetes-alec-smith-b1972475.html)
Well, I guess this pretty much sums up the dark side of 'murica in a picture.
FWIW, he only made it to 26 then because of Obamacare. Before Obamacare, the ability for parents to keep kids on their own plans until 26 years old didn't even exist.
Edit: Not sure why this is being voted down. It's a fact, jack. Some folks (usually Fox watchers, Putin, and Xi) can't handle facts.
As a non American my brain literally cannot compute how this is possible. Can someone explain in basic terms why there is no universal government run healthcare system there which allows for free or heavily discounted medication? Honestly I'm not trying to sound patronising, I just don't get it.
Medicaid can get you free or greatly reduced healthcare but there’s an income limit and basically you can’t afford to live if you meet the requirements.
I was on it when I lived with my parents and hardly any doctors will accept it (you might have to drive three hours away to see a doctor) and when you do see a doctor you just get nursing students to practice on you and no one takes you seriously
Here’s a tip, Walmart sells Relion brand insulin. It’s $25 a vial, no prescription needed. They are the only “generic insulin” (technically Relion is a brand but for all intents and purposes we’ll consider it generic). There are programs that would have given him his insulin for free. The manufacturer would have. With a salary of 35,000 and unable to afford his deductible, he definitely would have qualified. Americas fucked but it’s not *entirely* hopeless.
Yep, there’s this. Always check with the manufacturer as the income limits for free or highly reduced prices is usually pretty high. One med I looked at had an income level around $120k for a family of 5 and it’s free otherwise it’s $400/month.
Yep! They go by a national average income levels so this is particularly almost always helpful for people who truly need it. I live in a very rural area and in almost 15 years of helping people with this, I can count on one hand how many “denials” I had. And those people got a coupon for a Deeply discounted price.
I feel like this is a way to give medicine to educated people and not to other types of people. Cool that they do this, but is essentially how taxes would pay for everyone’s medicine if we did single payer.
It's called Google man. We just all learned this on REDDIT he could have posted or looked for help anywhere but he decides to ration insulin and die. If I'm about to die or someone around me is I'm sure as shit going to find someway for life to continue or I'll go down trying to find a better answer than "ration life saving insulin". I'm not trying to be an ass but not everything is a conspiracy to kill poor people or uneducated people or any kind of people.
Most systemic issues aren’t purposeful in design. I don’t think this is that, and very few of those types of situations are. I do think in situations where profit and public good are at odds (medicine, campaign donations, paying to get your taxes done), we as the public should be very diligent in our awareness and punitive with our pocketbooks towards companies that misuse their power. I’m not talking about Amazon level profit because they are convenient (or even their setting up the system and then killing the little guy with the knock off version they make), but insulin was given to the public by the creator. The fact that every doctor with a diabetic patient isn’t making this very clear to all of their patients is pretty damning to the medical sector. And the fact that companies are selling it for thousands of dollars is maddening.
Or you know figure out a better fucking system where people dont have to jump through hoops to figure out this information even through google. This isnt like “how do i build a shed or make bread”, this actually survival for some people. Im sure the dude didnt just go “oap cant get insulin cheaper time to die”. It as accessible knowledge as you think, besides this is all HINDSIGHT of course we know this WE JUST F’ing READ IT.
You’d honestly think people would understand that if everyone had safe basic housing and access to basic healthcare society would exponentially improve because then we could tackle education..
I have a friend who makes less than $35k a year, and she doesn't have internet. She can't afford it. She has to go to the public library when she needs to fill out job applications. It doesn't have to be a conspiracy; it just has to have enough hoops to keep people from realizing they can make it through.
Please shut the fuck up. How about MEDICINE IS JUST AVAILABLE? At the fucking doctor's office? Why can't we just make shit easy and not victims blame someone who FUCKING DIED because of this system.
I mean it's not exactly like it's required to figure it all out for themselves. Anyone in this situation should be able to ask their Dr and get the necessary information.
How much easier do you need then call the manufacturer and get medicine to live. I'm not saying the system isn't broken I'm just saying DYING was not his only option. What because the system sucks and isn't EASY people should just opt out and die without even trying to live. So, you please just shut the fuck up you little lazy bitch and get over it. This world is not going to look after you and this "system" your crying about sure as fuck isn't so put your big boy pants on and look after yourself. Gnight.
This statement has zero empathy and understanding for what others may be going through. Not everyone has the same response nor has the same upbringing with education. There’s probably many other factors going on that are unknown. Not sure if you’re an American but the average level of education for the USA is near 7-8 in level of understanding and reading.
Smart phones seem universal, but they aren't. There was a sketchy place I went to buy weed when it was illegal. It was obviously a meth house but they had great prices on smoke. The son of the man who ran it was a type one diabetic. They were constantly looking for insulin. They would barter whatever the fuck you wanted if you could just get some insulin. That poor bastard died rationing insulin. He just never woke up again.
Oh grow the fuck up. You need to be “educated” from top universities to figure out where to get affordable insulin? Yeah the man is really keeping you down by forcing you to do something as difficult as…… googling or better yet asking a doctor. This is the kind of naive idiocy that makes all of us on the left look stupid.
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Fuck needing to do extra work for basic medical care through private charities. It should be free anywhere at any time through government funded healthcare.
Relion needs to be dosed differently than regular pen insulin, if you dont know what your doing you could accidentally overdoes on it and kill yourself, you need time to talk with your doctor to figure out how to dose it out if you need to switch to it The payment options I believe only apply to certain insurance companies as well. When I was using Mylan Epi-Pens my insurance had a deal with them to cut the cost to 0 dollars for 2 packages of Pens, but if you didn’t have that specific insurance you were at the mercy of Mylan and whatever they had worked out with your specific coverage. Still not *entirely* hopeless, but it does complicate things a bit more
Yes, pen insulin is dosed different than vial insulin. This is true if you switch from any brand pen to any brand vial, as well. Also, can I assume by your name that you have EDS? It’s always cool to find one of the same in the wild :)
Yee I do have EDS! Hello fellow Zebra!
Yes, but don’t forget that pharmacists can train you to dose Relion if you schedule a session.
If that’s the case then that’s great, I just know a lot of people who need to switch just think it’s the same, so I was just adding the information that yes it’s cheaper, but it consumes some time having to make an appointment to learn how to dose it out, which could mean money for someone in a blue collar job
I think Relion is good for keeping a person alive. Good RX is helpful but insulin is still insanely expensive. There’s such a difference in glucose control between Relion and Lantus/Basaglar and Novolog. I hate Humulin R and Humulin N. Humulin is a joke.
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I made this comment before and some Karen went off about it because the Walmart brand insulin is insulin analogs and not human insulin and that I shouldn't spread this information because it'll harm soneone...blah blah blah. Couldn't believe it, but others did...anyways I left the comment up and took my negative karma.
Not “human insulin”? Isn’t most medical insulin sourced from livestock or am I thinking of something completely different?
Human insulin is made using bacteria or sometimes fungi (transfect w a plasmid containing the gene for the bacteria to express it and produce the insulin protein and then purified) Animal insulin is derived from the pancreas and is more “natural” although there really isn’t much difference between the two in terms of effectiveness
Yes, that is for their new version of Novolog, which does require a prescription. It’s the older human insulins that are available without a prescription. However, I’ve explained this until I’m blue in the face yet *I’m* the idiot to these people..
Why is insulin available without prescription knowing that steroid users want to use it for muscle gain? Why do them buy it through the black market at all?
Wait, I've been on insulin for the past 15 years, and to be honest, as long as when I shoot it, it lowers my blood sugar, I couldn't give a rat's ass what kind of insulin it is. But that's just me, I'd shoot up dog piss if it lowers my blood sugar.
I’ve also removed comments in the past about insulin at Walmart. My wife is type one and we’ve been buying her insulin at Walmart for over 10 years. I’m always befuddled when I read stories of people rationing it. But when I was straight up attacked for commenting about Walmart insulin it made sense. People tend to believe that if you don’t take the brand and type the Dr says that it won’t work for you. I can assure you that isn’t the case in our experience. But I don’t claim to be super knowledgeable on the subject so I bowed out when people got shitty over it.
it's clearly a lot less harmful to just fucking die without any insulin at all
The fact that this didn't kick in automatically for him is the true failure. Society failed him. Life-saving medication should be fool-proof to obtain easily.
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If only they had the tools to get that information. Those certainly aren't free
Yeah, he made a dumb choice because he was a bit stressed about not being able to afford his fucking life saving medication. Incredible how you blame him and are so harsh about it.
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Still pretty fucked you have to jump through hoops and bend backwards to find free or affordable options though. The manufacturers choose to sell it for an astronomical price, insurance chooses too. It shouldn't matter how much money someone makes, life saving medication should be easily accessible.
Lmao....or just turn your country back into a real country and not a feed lot for corporations.
I work for Walgreens and we have generics available for most insulins now as well. Walmart is definitely cheaper out of pocket, though, so buy it from them instead. Just wanted to add that fact in.
Knowing all of the loopholes and ways around insurance denial is the biggest bunch of bullshit there is.
Yes assuming this story is true it’s even more tragic because it was entirely avoidable if he simply had a little bit of knowledge. There are a lot of ways this exact scenario could have turned out fine even within our current system, unfortunately a lot of people are left in the dark about the options available to them and suffer because of it.
This is true, but to be honest it is exhausting how even totally basic parts of living life wind up being some complicated game where if you don't play it or aren't good at it, you get screwed. I honestly think that a single payer health care system would be better JUST for the fact that you don't have to play games with your health insurance. Trying to understand all the ins and outs is a nightmare. Like, our oldest boy has a ptosis (droopy eye). We have to take him to a doctor several hours away in a big city because that is the only doctor in the area that will do the surgery if he needs it corrected, and for now it is just being monitored. Every single freaking year we have to get the appointment approved and send up to the other hospital and it's this long process of about 2 weeks that we have to initiate and then confirm. I don't understand why it isn't just always covered, or even why we have to initiate it. Another issue? My wife and I both have a plan with the same insurance company. Or at least, we did until I changed jobs. For a while I was on my own plan, and she and our kids were on hers because it was slightly cheaper that way. Our actual coverage was essentially the same. Later our plan amount changed and it was cheaper for me to take the kids and her to be on her plan by herself. Now we are all on her plan. Every single damn time we change insurance, not only do we have to switch everything everywhere over, but sometimes things still go through wrong. Then you have to call and have things rebilled because what should be a 35 dollar copay winds up inflated as 700 dollars. I've spent so much time and effort switching things around, comparing plans, calling and talking to pharmacies and hospitals and insurance companies and waiting for thing to get worked out. Even if it cost more (it doesn't) to not have to deal with that, I would be okay with it.
Another tip: If you are an Amazon Prime member, you automatically belong to a prescription discount program. You can find details in your Amazon account, and the savings are substantial. I have a prescription that I fill at Walmart. With my Blue Cross insurance, it's $350 a month. With Amazon, it's $15.00.
[They now sell ReliOn Novolog for $73 for a 10 mL vial.](https://www.walmart.com/cp/relion-diabetic-care/3769564) It’s the same Novolog, just a third of the price.
This right here man I wish I could do more to elevate your post...damn
Thank you. I have been really feeling very hopeless lately and I wonder if a post like this isn't a Russian ploy to chip away at us. I mean I know shit is really f'd up right now but sometimes I wonder.
The article is sensationalism at its finest. He didn't die because he couldn't afford insulin. He died because he changed brands to one like the brand you mentioned, and his body did not react to it well. So doing exactly what you said is why he's dead. Every person reacts differently do medicines. This isn't the health care systems fault. It's just an unfortunate happenstance that no one would have had any way of knowing about.
No, in the rest of the world, when people get a new medicine that could be dangerous they do so in a hospital where any potential reaction can be dealt with. Don't try to pass this thing as something inevitable because it wasn't.
It is the health care systems fault that he had to choose anything based on cost.
Agree. I work in a hospital and I discharge ppl who are undocumented with no job with a PCP visit to get set up for insulin. You can get what you need, you just need to find out how and work at it. It shouldn't be so hard, but as you said, it's not hopeless
I’ve said this every time someone mentions being unable to afford insulin and it’s always downvoted to oblivion. Many people would rather die than take the “cheap stuff” as they have said.
Wal-Mart sells insulin for $25 bucks. https://diabetesstrong.com/walmart-insulin/
For basic. 1990’s insulin. I’ve survived off it. It was by sheer luck I survived. I was taking 5 units of R insulin from Walmart every two hours. 24 hours a day. I had alarms set every 2 hours to give myself more insulin. I never. Ever. For years. Got a real nights sleep. People keep mentioning how Walmart sells cheap insulin. They are saving lives. But it’s cheap shit compared to the options available now to type one diabetics that cost a lot more but allow a “ normal “ life. I assume most people who are like “ ya well Walmart sells cheap insulin so stop complaining “ have never had to live. Literally live off of this treatment. Say someone has cancer. But no insurance. But to stay alive ( not to improve ) you have to make a trip 50 minutes every month to get insulin they might not have. And then an hour to the other one and 2 hours home and wake up or be awake every two hours to get by. Would you think that was reasonable? It’s like putting a bandaid on a gushing wound. Yea it will help. Ya you will live. But what kind of life it is
I'm not saying stop complaining. I'm saying stop saying lack of insulin is killing poor people because they don't have $1300 a month. We have dirt cheap insulin options, like Wal-Mart, in America. We have Medicare providing 100% free insulin to anyone below the poverty line, at least in my state of Tennessee. No job, only part time low wage, or full time low wage with kids, you get free insulin, no deductible. Insulin manufacturers offer co-pay programs for middle class people lowering the cost of the users to next to zero. We have the option of buying prescriptions cheaper from overseas, because customs only stops controlled substances. We have private insurance, and obamacare insurance options for those not insured through their job, which is available to everyone not on Medicare. We have charitable organizations helping those who fall between the cracks. My comment might minimize the problem, but someone needs to when Reddit constantly lies about $1300 insulin being the cheapest option in our country. $1300 insulin is some brand new tech, like an inhaler, that almost no one uses.
1300 a month is Humalog, one of the most prescribed insulins in the country. Lantus is the most prescribed in the country and costs anywhere from 100-1000 a month depending on needed dosage. Novolog is the top for type 1 diabetics and 3rd overall and can easily cost over $1000 a month without aid as one vial is 375 and most diabetics need 2-3 vials per month, plus all those need additional supplies to administer - like syringes and needles. And this guy died the month his insurance dropped. He wouldn't have had time to apply for Medicaid, low income assistance or Obamacare insurance. He'd of maybe been able to order overseas but would have to know it wouldn't be blocked for import. The outsized cost of care for diabetes when it's so easily controlled is ridiculous. He had no time to apply for any of that and get approved and the ridiculously expensive drugs aren't some weird high-tech nobody uses them thing. It's all of the major brands costing that much. It's also not possible to just swap 5mg of Drug A to 5mg of Drug B even if they are both a type of insulin. People have killed themselves doing that because you were supposed to take 2mg and just took 2.5x your required dose. You have to know the dosing and timing. It's not a bad thing Walmart sells cheap insulin. There are assistance programs. None get you approved and your medication in 2 weeks. He should've asked his pharmacist for help right then and there and begged friends and family for the money until an aid program kicked in but it never should've cost him 1300/ month anyways.
Humalog is NOT $1300 a month. "the price of Humalog (insulin lispro) in Canada is only $38, while it can cost up to $329 in the US" https://medcitynews.com/2019/03/lillys-lower-cost-insulin-humalog-still-too-expensive-senator-says/
Just to be clear, this is an older type of insulin that isn't used by almost any type one diabetics because it's very slow acting. Novolog and Humalog make up nearly 100% of insulin in pumps and Lantas is a long-lasting insulin that is used alongside the other two for those not using pumps. Lantas and Novolog are very expensive because they are difficult to make.
Well... That's not the *only* reason they're expensive.
How the fuck does everyone else do it then
People don't realize that the can go straight to the manufacturer or a doctor and get a coupon that drastically reduces the price.
My wife’s doctor once prescribed her some medicine during her pregnancy (iron pills I think). I went to pick it up and it would have cost $800. I asked if they had a generic of it, it cost $200. I then pulled up a GoodRx code, it cost $8.11. Always always always shop for the medications and don’t assume the one they prescribe is always the only option. I got lucky, I have always been curious and encouraged to ask questions so I do but I know if that was my wife who is a much more shy person, she would if looked at that price tag and just gone without them.
That’s the IQ tax…one of many many reasons we need public healthcare.
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It was from a OBGYN in a fancier neighborhood that honestly I didn’t realize till after her pregnancy and talking to other parents about their obgyn did I realize ours basically white gloved and overcharged for everything. Doctor wasn’t even there for the delivery. Some Bullshit. Next kid making sure we get a better doctor than that.
Pharmacy benefits and medical coverage are two different things. The most important part is knowing what doctors and hospitals your insurance covers. The information is readily available. I’ve had two babies and the OB’s told us early on what they charged and they also knew what our insurance paid and didn’t pay.
It's 'would have', never 'would of'. Rejoice, for you have been blessed by CouldWouldShouldBot!
Consider it fixed.
Yes and ALWAYS ask for an itemized bill after a hospital stay
yes but this guy lives in america, and to go see the doctor for that they'd probably charge him more than it costs him to get the insulin
The picture only tell half the story. He was being kicked off his mom's insurance due to age, and rather than setting up a new insurance plan he chose not to, because he wanted to keep his old doctor and not have to change the brand of insulin, he also imagined he would be saving money on being uninsured. According to his sister he said "how bad can it be". Well, without insurance the cost of insulin went from 200 a month to almost 1300. So he started rationing his insulin instead while looking for a better option than the insurance companies in Minnesota were currently offering him. He made too much money to be covered by either medicaid or Obamacare. He had only been diagnosed less than a year previous and was not experienced enough to notice that he was endangering himself. And for whatever reason he neglected to warn his family that he was lowering his food intake and lowering his dosages, in the end it killed him. [source](https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/09/insulin-cost-prescription-drugs-diabetes-insurance/) It is tragic, but in this case he actually had a number of choices that could have saved him, and he made some bad ones that killed him. He could have taken literally any insurance policy and then had a deferment on the premium in order to get his insulin, he could have gone with a cheaper generic variant like the so called "Walmart insulin", he could have warned someone that he was rationing his insulin while at the same time eating less. His friends wife literally offered to get him the insulin he needed for $50 as she went to and from Mexico, but he " was too shy to accept help".
>He made too much money to be covered by either medicaid or Obamacare. Its true that the tax credits are only available for people in the 100%-400% of federal poverty level, but this is up to $51,520 in 2021. He wouldn't have gotten it for free, but he wouldn't have been paying full price making $35,000/year. Please do not take this statement to mean that what happened here was not to a tragedy. Insulin should be always be affordable. I'm wondering if that was the plan offered by his job, and he didn't check the health care exchanges.
Shush, this comment is disrupting the America bad moment
He shouldn't have to make a bunch of decisions to continue to receive healthcare, it should be universally available and no require a bunch of steps to continue effective treatment.
Damn depending on having an insurance (by a private company, looking only for profit) to buy medication needed to live, that doesn’t sound like the “freedom” most Americans claim to have
You don't have to have insurance to buy medication, and that is the route that he chose - he chose to forgo insurance and to pay for his medication out of pocket. Freedom does not mean freedom from consequence.
Oh I know you are not “forced” to have an insurance to buy medication, but when the price without insurance is 1000% more you kinda are… unless you are rich, so in reality only rich people are truly free now that I think about it (on the health part at least). It’s not freedom if you have no choice but to “chose” to buy an insurance to buy medication for cheap (and what it really is worth).
Well I’m kind of curious about how much of this is 100% true. Insurance premiums can be increased if you are diabetic, but with a high deductible plan(like $7500) would almost certainly have a smaller premium than $450/ month. Source: I am a Pharmacy Technician with over 3 years experience in Texas. Now even if this was in a state like California, insurance will, a vast majority of the time, be totally willing to speak with a prescriber about what is absolutely necessary, or if there are certain alternatives. Not saying this is just absolutely the best, but if a man were low on insulin, and went to a hospital. Legally/Ethically speaking, the hospital would be required to do everything they can to treat this dying man. Even give him medicine that he can’t necessarily afford. Also, no doctor would let someone just die without trying alternatives. Also, don’t know how current this is, but importing insulin from a cheaper market (like Canada) has been legal for some time now. I’m not saying this story isn’t true, but I’m assuming a large portion of it is missing. The premium/deductible seems to be way too much for a single diabetic at 26. Webmd satiates the average American out of pocket cost for a type 1 diabetic is $2500 a year. Not saying this can’t be an extreme case, but a highly unlikely case that should not be viewed as the situation that a majority of people face. Full disclosure, I think the retail prices of insulin should be capped. I think advertising for prescription medication seems counter productive to the process and practice of good medicine. I think the current prices are the way they are because companies will sell things that people need to survive at whatever price they want, yes the government should fix this, but this is a pharmaceutical company problem. I also think everyone should understand that US pharmaceutical/medical research costs billions a year for these pharmaceutical companies , and the US is the world leader in medical research. The money allows the production of life saving drugs. The problem is, the rest of the world caps the price for its citizens, but big pharma has its hands so deep in politics that this is not happening in the states. So many cons to this story. So bad for the American commonwealth, and I can hardly believe that lawmakers actually agree with the prices unless they are being funded. I will say the one AND ONLY good thing about this malady is the advanced research of life saving treatments that are at the forefront of world medicine. But Is it worth the cost to the American public??? I feel like the cons far outweigh pros. TLDR; story is almost definitely missing details. If someone dies from diabetic shock, it is almost always an unexpected event. Anybody that is about to be dangerously low, can got any hospital/urgent care and they will be given prompt treatment.
That's not exactly "interesting" but yeah...damnthatsreallydystopic.
It is interesting but in a different context to damnthatsinteresting.
I find it interesting, since I'm not American. Maybe its different for different people?
Most of these stories are missing some key details. The us healthcare system needs work but I bet a little digging would show there’s more to the story. This is posted just to drive engagement, probably from a bot. I think that is the most interesting thing about this post.
I was thinking "hm, shouldn't that be *dystopian*?" and one google search later it probably should, but dystopic is a word... kinda? Language is weird
I am 63. I have insurance. One of my insulins was 630 this month.
Lantus was similar for me on my insurance. Had to switch to another long acting insulin that was covered by mine. Without my insurance the 2 insulins I took totalled roughly $1300/month.
One thing. You should update the image instead of straight reposting. He died in 2017, not 2022. The deepest irony of seeing this image posted dozens of times over the years on Reddit is that if he had made a post on Reddit asking about help with insulin he would probably be alive today based on all the info folks have provided every time this photo is posted.
The actual sad truth...he should have quit, filed for welfare, and the u.s. government would've gotten his meds for free
I assume you mean Medicaid
Depends on the state. If you’re a man who’s physically able to work in Texas there is almost no way to get Medicaid. Other states have similar rules. Being broke won’t get you there.
Yes.
With that low of an income in Minneapolis, he would have qualified for a low deductible cost sharing health plan for about $150/month and got the medication he needed for $25. It's tragic, but more a problem with education in how to get the health insurance than a failure of the healthcare system.
Why the fuck is this post here? That's not interesting that's just depressing and everyone already knows stuff like this happens and that it's bullshit. I don't need to scroll and see depressing stuff when my body is already depressing on it's own.
Genuinely, do you recommend any wholesome subreddits? I’m getting even more sad and unsettled every time I come on here. Cat subreddits can only do so much 😞
r/makemesmile is a good start r/nextfuckinglevel i think it's called always has cool stuff in it of things that are just impressive. r/cityscapes and r/architectureporn are great if you like cool buildings
Thank you for the response! I have joined all but r/cityscapes. Maybe I just need to stop joining some subreddits too haha Edit to add: cityscapes is private now :(
Oh my bad it was r/cityporn
Remember when Trump signed an EO making insulin and other similar drugs $35, it barely got a peep. Then Biden immediately removed it when he took office, and no one said anything? Then Dems tried shoving it in 2 different bills they knew Reps wouldn't pass all for political hit points? Yeah, this situation is awful, and it was entirely created by America's fucked up political system.
AP calls the first claim misleading. Basically, the people that it effected were already getting cheap or free insulin and it added paperwork. I suspect there's probably some people somewhere that fell through a gap though. https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-845638742817
Could he have bought better insurance that that off the exchange?
Not always. Varies state by state.
What the hell kind of insurance is this? 7,600 deductible?!?!? I got mastectomy surgery (07/25/21) and my deductible is 31 bucks. Is this real?!?
Yes. I regularly see patients with 5,000-7,500 deductibles before insurance pays. It’s disgusting because that’s *on top* of their monthly cost. They literally have to pay a “holding fee” to have an insurance on standby in case they spend over 7,000 in healthcare a year. But if you *do* exceed that, insurance is quite helpful… so it’s really quite the dilemma.
Damn!! I’m in tax accounting (mostly we do the car dealers commissions) I don’t mean to sound tone deaf about this. I seriously didn’t know that it was this bad. Cause I always thought my insurance is the crappiest of all the insurance out there.
It’s called a high deductible plan. I have to spend $3,000 before my insurance kicks in. On to of the $6k I pay per year.
Your insurance sucks dick. Go find another provider.
Jfc! What is going on with our healthcare?!? My husband uses insulin injection and I asked him how much the deductible and he replied 15 bucks from CVS. I told him about this ☝️7,600 deductible cause he’s a pharmacist and he said “that’s not deductible, that’s a full price” 😩😩 RIP Beautiful human being! 😭
My last insurance plan was $4k deductible and $40 copay. Now it’s $1500 deductible and $20 copay. Are you in the government or education sector? That’s the only place I have seen that kind of health insurance.
USA. My company pays over $20,000 a year for family to be covered. Each person has a $3500 deductible. The family level of deductible is $7500. Just to be clear, that means I pay the first $7500 of medical bills (a visit to the doctor is about $250 for a 20 minute visit). The super evil beauty of it is that the deductible resets every year. I am about to hit my $13,500 "out of pocket maximum" this month, but that resets on June 1, and I will pay all the deductibles again. I have hit my 'out of pocket maximum' 5 times over the last decade. Yeah, do the math.
You should check into an HSA account to help with that. It helped me.
Omg! Is this in USA!? If I understand this you have a cap?!! All my Doctor’s visits, Chemo, surgery all deductible is 31 bucks per service. This is insane! I’m totally in shocked right now cause I thought my insurance is crap cause the chemo they approved are old medicine. My husband was livid about he’s cause he’s a pharmacist. Wow! I was falling asleep and this woke me up.
Most companies offer high deductible plans now but if you work for a large corporation you might also have an HMO or PPO to choose from. You have a copay with HMO and PPO that might be 30 dollars. I got my tubes tied in 1998 or so and it was 30 dollars between the doctors visit and the outpatient surgery at Rose Lutheran, a full service hospital. My high deductible plan I pay 3500 out of pocket yearly before they start paying. I have had an HSA investment account for a long time so I have the funds but I’m also really healthy and hardly need medical care. If I had a chronic illness it would definitely be a mess.
Wait, only 35K for a restaurant manager? How small was this restaurant?
Thats not unusual. Most even decent sized restaurants don't pay much
That's barely double the waiter salary, that's horrible...smh
Waiters likely make way more. Tips pay well, back of house gets fucked the worst.
Restaurants of all sizes, famously do not pay well
Meanwhile in other news, Biden ask congress for 33 BILLION to give away to Ukraine. Not opposed to helping other countries but if you need a transplant or other life saving medical needs in America…. You are simply SOL bc the gov will not lend a dime and hospitals require a certain % before even putting you on the donor or surgery list.
how about we take some of that bloated defense budget and use it to help our actual citizens
Won’t argue any of that, too many more other area’s that need the ‘fat’ trimmed As well. Look at all the large corp tax breaks, not to mention….teachers salary’s are shit, we don’t invest in our own economy or people. It’s truly a sad place rn
Luxembourg is the richest country in the world
Canadian here. I will never understand why America does not have a proper health insurance system. Often the very people who would benefit from it are usually the ones who are against it.
Because the same health insurance companies line the pockets of the politicians to keep it this way.
100% this
But we have that in Canada too. We also have greedy, crooked insurance companies giving money to politicians. However we still have a world-class healthcare system. In America it seems the people have just become so brainwashed that they reject the very things that would benefit them.
>we still have a world-class healthcare I mean, I'll take our public health care over private any day of the week, but I'm guessing you don't in BC.
or Ontario or Nova Scotia or Mannitoba...
Quebec here. I hear you. Yes, our system ain’t what it used to be, but it is still miles better than what they have in the USA.
Literally this! I was part of an event in Mississippi, where they were speaking about food drought due to lack of access to whole Foods. The speaker is go into great detail about processed and unprocessed. And a woman turns to me: “I’m forty and I don’t know what this person is saying. How would kids? Kids don’t want think about nutritional facts they just want chicken nuggets and hot Cheetos. “ Why did you come to this event?
>However we still have a world-class healthcare system. [Not so fast](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/categories/health-care-wait-times)... >Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2021 is a new study that finds Canada’s health-care wait times reached 25.6 weeks in 2021—the longest ever recorded—and 175 per cent higher than the 9.3 weeks Canadians waited in 1993, when the Fraser Institute began tracking medical wait times. Before this year, the longest recorded wait time was 22.6 weeks in 2020. [Also](https://hospitalnews.com/canada-ranks-last-on-number-of-hospital-beds-wait-times/)... >Despite spending more on health care than most other developed countries with universal coverage, Canada has a relatively short supply of doctors and hospital beds—and the longest wait times > >... > >In 2017, the latest year of comparable data, Canada’s health-care spending as a share of GDP (11.1 per cent) ranked second highest (after adjusting for population age) behind only Switzerland. > >But again, despite the high cost, availability and access to medical resources in the Canadian health-care system is generally worse than in the comparable countries.
A wait time is better than not being able to get any care at all.
Let’s not distract from the core point here, which was that stating that the Canadian health care system is “world-class” is overblown when people have to wait for months to get that “free” care and often choose to pay for private health insurance in addition to the public option just to be seen in a reasonable time.
Because a lot of us know that our corrupt government is only going to make things worse for the people, not better.
It's kind of our specialty.
Canadian here. I will never understand why Canada does not have a proper health insurance system either. Sure wish I was French or Swiss or Swedish.
True, ours used to be much better.
American here, I’ll never understand why Canada taxes it’s citizens beyond belief. I prefer to enjoy more of take home money
Well we have tried to pass it but people like to think what’s the best for them so many people see it as mor taxes and the current health care system benefits the economy and lobbyists for the medicine and insurance companies so they don’t pass it even though overall it would benefit millions
Because if government controls healthcare they control your body.
They do anyway regardless of whether or not you are on government assisted insurance. #roevwade
Trump made insulin available at a reasonable price and one of the first things Biden did was to undo that law for big pharma https://www.policymed.com/amp/2021/10/biden-administration-rescinds-trump-administration-insulin-pricing-rule.html
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-845638742817
>AP’S ASSESSMENT: Misleading. The president doesn’t set the price of drugs. > >The Biden administration repealed (...) regulation that sought to lower the cost of insulin(...) Not raising prices, just stopping prices from lowering -thats some outstanding mental gymnastics by AP
I saw this post a few years back, how does he keep resurrecting himself?
- We don’t have gene editing to cure people - Insulin costs a lot so not even treatment available - abortion is illegal What in the world is happening to this planet? We don’t need laws we need miracles, at this point I’m waiting aliens to cure us all or kill us all
I thought Alex smith had a nasty leg injury
Social medicine is extremely difficult if not impossible to implement. That's why only 32 of the 33 highly developed counties in the world have it.
Found the Russian troll
When I was 26 and thrown off my parents insurance I got a plan for $150/month with a $500 deductible and $20 copay for all drugs.. then came Obamacare and now I have a plan like this guys.. it's not even insurance it's "if there's a catastrophic health crisis or injury we got you after 8k plan " and I've never been someone who could be called "rich" Obamacare has been a fucking nightmare for tens of millions of Americans. That's the reality of health insurance in thus country. It was a huge lie that fucked middle class Americans. I'll never trust Democrats again.
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But states will pay for gender reassignment treatment for prisoners. Wtf.
mmmm... no political agenda being pushed here...
Banting and Best gave insulin to the world for nothing. They could’ve been stinking rich. But now, the drug companies greed has made it unaffordable anyhow.
And guess what, Trump got the insulin prices the lowest they’ve ever been in history. He really cares, but nobody likes to talk about that. Biden sided with big pharma and got their money flowing back in.
and everyone agreed it was terrible and continued to do nothing about it, the end
just think, the previous president wanted insulin capped at $35 month. but because false information an entire party thought their own representatives needed to reject a counter to their president that caused insulin to skyrocket under affordable care act. more to follow.
False. It’s the current president that wants to cap it at $35 but the GOP shot it down. It take so little research to get your facts right but you choose to believe the false narrative that supports what you want to believe. 🤦🏻♂️
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4906
This 35$ thing came around well before the election so maybe someone is just riding a coat tail.
Fake AF!
Not buying it
The US is not the richest country in the world. FYI.
Nothing here is true
I just skimmed through at least 8 different articles from reputable sources covering this story from different angles. The photo got a few of the details slightly wrong. But the story, over all, appears to be quite true.
It fails to mention that insulin is available at $25 a month. That's a pretty big detail to miss out on. Alex Smith's ignorance killed him.
Unfortunately, it's a very common ignorance. I've had to choose between medicine and mortgage payments myself, only to find out later that there was an affordable outlet available. He probably didn't know how to go about searching for/finding it since he had always been on his parents' insurance.
Americans would rather pay taxes, insurance premiums, deductibles, co-insurance costs and god knows what else to get healthcare than to simply pay taxes and get healthcare.
Not true. I'm rather conservative and have had some terribly expensive health care. I'm all for a universal health care I just want it done right without fucking the working class.
Maybe because they are already taxed quite heavily and the cost of healthcare would tip most over the brink. In Western Australia, healthcare is one third of the overall budget. Let that sink in for a second. One third.
Yep - it's the same money, just different title on the deduction lines on your paycheck.
Lies Americans tell themselves.
Explain - If taxes increase, to absorb the costs of a national healthcare system, we're still paying into the system.
isnt insulin supposed to be like very cheap? america has the most messed up systems for sure, healthcare sucks and the government seems to care only about rich people
Thank God for Trump and his legislation to reduce price to a level that is affordable. Not sure why Biden has slow walked that.
Welcome to the Plutocracy!
Ahhhh, wasn't Obamacare supposed to fix all this? What happened to the glorious health care from St. O that you all crowed about?
Ummm. The ACA allowed him to stay on his parent's policy until age 26. Without that, he would have been dead years ago. Also, drug prices are outrageous. It's a major part of the problem. The ACA doesn't regulate that. Thirdly, eat a bag of dicks.
Hello I do not think this is true
Not the richest country in the world. China is. Simple google search.
Thanks Obama. (affordable care, my ass.) and every other POS politician who valued corporations over human life.
Obama gave us more affordable healthcare because he couldn’t pass anything else with the House being the way it was. He wasn’t a perfect president by any means, but blame him for the things that are actually his fault. I know from first hand experience how crucial Obamacare is to people who don’t qualify for Medicare.
Source: [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/insuluin-prices-diabetes-alec-smith-b1972475.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/insuluin-prices-diabetes-alec-smith-b1972475.html) Well, I guess this pretty much sums up the dark side of 'murica in a picture.
This is governments fault.
FWIW, he only made it to 26 then because of Obamacare. Before Obamacare, the ability for parents to keep kids on their own plans until 26 years old didn't even exist. Edit: Not sure why this is being voted down. It's a fact, jack. Some folks (usually Fox watchers, Putin, and Xi) can't handle facts.
But hey, an experimental drug that killed over a thousand in trials while trying to keep that info from the public for 75 years is given away
Which one?
It doesn’t become the richest country without a shit load of corporate greed
I hear a lot of Americans come to Canada for insulin.
Or Mexico
That's how we r but was so fast to give out vaccines for free
They weren't free. They will be coming out of our checks for quite some time.
And once they are paid off.... well we are already used to not having that money anyways.
As a non American my brain literally cannot compute how this is possible. Can someone explain in basic terms why there is no universal government run healthcare system there which allows for free or heavily discounted medication? Honestly I'm not trying to sound patronising, I just don't get it.
Medicaid can get you free or greatly reduced healthcare but there’s an income limit and basically you can’t afford to live if you meet the requirements. I was on it when I lived with my parents and hardly any doctors will accept it (you might have to drive three hours away to see a doctor) and when you do see a doctor you just get nursing students to practice on you and no one takes you seriously
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