Was just sent a copy of a tweet by Robert Reich that appears way off the mark. Reich served in several White House posts, including Sec. of Labor under Bill Clinton. A recent tweet compared prices on a unit of insulin in various countries. Some examples: Australia, $6.94; France, $9; Japan, $14.40; U.S., $98.70. He notes that a majority of Senate Republicans voted against a cap on insulin prices, so “Remember this in November.”
I agree that insulin seems more expensive than it should be, but that’s not my point here. Twice in the past several years I’ve been forced to pay for a bottle of Humalog myself, with no insurance support; both times, it came out around $390. Now, there are 1000 units (the standard, long-standing unit that’s been around for decades [and I started using insulin in 1960!]) of insulin in a bottle. Doesn’t this come out to 39¢ per unit?! Even if you use milliliters as your “unit,” it’s still only $3.90. Anyone know where he gets those figures? Or is my math wrong again? (wouldn’t be the first time, but I WAS a physics/math major in college)
(And Humalog is not the cheapest insulin in the store!)
That is price per vial, not price per unit, from a 2018 Rand report comparing insulin costs worldwide. Obviously, you found the US cost has increased dramatically from the 2018 figures. Here is a link to original Rand report if you want to look it up. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA788-1.html
Sigh. CJ is clearly just quoting whatever republican talking points they’re dreaming up to distract from the truth.
The unit specified is a 1,000 unit vial, not a unit for dosing. I saw this price comparison a while back and was confused until I found out that the report was using unit for vial.
They just did it to confuse us diabetics.
Maybe they should have an insulin using diabetic proof their work.
We can eliminate politics from this. Both parties blame the other for insulin prices AND BOTH PARTIES REFUSE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
Look how many times democrats have had all 3 branches. Nothing was done. Look at how republicans dealt with the same when they had control. Yes nothing.
If we depend on politicians to get us out of this we are wasting our time.
Sorry I did not quote any republican talking points, just my actual experience buying insulin out of pocket and through my insurance company over the past few decades under both republican and democrat administrations.
First, to bring a new insulin product or delivery system to market, manufacturers must go through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s wildly expensive processes for approving new drugs and medical devices.
“in 2019 dollars, the average estimated cost of each new drug approval has risen from $523 million in 1987 to $1.2–1.8 billion in 2000 to $3.2 billion in 2013…”
The high cost of regulation discourages new insulin products, reduces the number of manufacturers & increases the prices of products that make it through that process—both by requiring manufacturers to recoup regulatory-compliance costs and by enabling tacit price collusion
Second, government increases the cost of insulin by requiring (cato.org/white-paper/dr…) prescriptions to purchase many insulin products. It makes little sense to require diabetics, who are highly knowledgeable repeat consumers of insulin, to obtain prescriptions each time.
Canada allows (healthline.com/diabetesmine/t…) diabetics to purchase any insulin product without a prescription. If the FDA or Congress were to remove those requirements, both the price of insulin and the ancillary costs of obtaining it would fall.
Oh, really? That wasn’t a republican talking point? Stating that the “democrats are all about narrative, numbers be damned”. When in FACT, Reich was quoting numbers from the Rand report EXACTLY. Oh, and the Rand report was funded by the US Dept of Health and Human Services back when trump was president.
I didn’t start the republican/democrat thing - YOU DID.
Well, let’s just consider this one time when Democrats have control of three branches. You are aware, I assume, that the Democrats had $35 insulin for all in their bill passed last week. But the republicans took that out? And the democrats could do nothing about it because the republicans filibustered it? If 10 republicans had joined the democrats then the bill would have passed. But 10 republicans would not join, so it died, and we are left with $200+ insulin in the US.
Instead, it is only those on Medicare who will get $35 insulin, and they will get it only because the republicans were unable to filibuster that provision. So this is a REALLY bizarre time for someone to try to blame expensive insulin on democrats right now.
Two of the big 3 insulin manufacturers are headquartered outside the USA. Novo Nordisk is in Copenhagen, and Sanofi is in Paris. All 3 including Lily have to jump through all the regulatory hoops in all the countries they market insulin. But it is the USA that has the extreme high priced, I smell something rotten and it’s not in Denmark.
What I’m saying is. No one has passed a cap on insulin. No one.
And that crap about what it costs to bring to market is crap.
Humalog exactly how it is today was 20 dollars per vial 25 years ago. Even with inflation it can’t be 300 now unless they are gouging us.
There is no new cost for them to make this product. I don’t believe this crap they try to sell us.
They made a profit with a 20 dollar price tag with all the research up front. They can do I don’t know 50 now with no research costs.
They don’t because our government allows it to happen.
If the people in power right now wanted to, they could push this through both the house and senate by changing the rules which they have done many times in the past.
No republicans could remove anything. It would pass.
The reality is they are all, all politicians in the us, are using insulin and diabetics as talking points and bargaining chips but are not getting anything done.
This should be an easy polyopoly case against the insulin manufacturers.
Yes that is actually what happened.r removed it from the bill and voted against any cap for anyone at first. Then it passed with the cap for people on medicare only because the 2 who normally vote against joined, not really full control.
It seems that some of us are veering into politics, one of the things we try to avoid here. It is one thing to discuss politics, or even the actions of politicians, and another to smear a whole class of individuals, in addition to being factually inaccurate.
(the particular post was removed, so this was edited to remove blame, and to avoid rehashing the issue).
I apologize for any offense taken and have removed my post. I have no intention of smearing any class of individuals, as my problem is with politics and politicians on both sides of the aisle. One side is just as bad as the other and I will be more careful to keep my future thoughts to myself, regardless of who is currently in power.
I am old enough to remember before insurance companies and Medicare existed. Then the market determined prices on everything. Doctors controlled the hospitals where they sent their patients, and fees for both were adjusted down for those who could not pay them. I feel that is how it should be and the government should stay out of it all. I always thought the FDA existed to protect the population from products that would harm them. Today I see that I was wrong. Nothing the government does is FOR the people. Sad. Very sad.
One of the issues we see with the government, and it has long been true, is regulatory capture, where the regulated industries influence, if not control, the regulator. Although you might have grown up in a golden period of government “for the people” this kind of corruption has occurred throughout history. Not being political, but this move toward deregulation started in the time of Reagan and has continued, to the point that government is often, but not usually, stocked with people that serve those same industries.
Although the FDA is one agency that has come to be heavily influenced by pharma and medical device manufacturers, this same influence can be seen in the medical community itself, where doctors imagine they are not influenced by industry money. The financial industry is incredibly powerful, able to influence regulation to avoid normal taxation, i.e., the carried interest provision. The crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max are another instance where the industry was left to regulate itself, and to avoid expenses, made decisions that lead to hundreds of people dying.
Yes, there are issues with the current regulatory state, and it would be better for us if the government had kept moving forward, regulating more, not less, and becoming more ethical, but the ‘golden period’ you mention is also historically unusual. In the 1800s, it would have been common to indirectly buy Supreme Court justice positions. Bribery was incredibly common.
As for deregulation, in my mind, I would prefer that corporations were reined in. I do not think people realize how powerful corporations dictate our lives, and I do not want them to decide how I live my life, what health care I am allowed, and what is good enough for the environment. Decisions left to corporations, would be our collective death.
I came to the U.S. in 1960 as a newlywed. So I caught only a couple of those “golden years.” But I came all around the world with stays in less-than first world countries. So I am well aware of governmental corruption. I suppose that this country was as corrupt as all the 3rd world countries but the world was not aware of it and considered the U.S. to be a country full of free opportunity. The American people were least aware of the corruption. Now they are…
The US is still considered a highly ethical country among all countries, but less so when considering the most highly developed members of The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Plus, ranking will vary as it depends on the criteria and area of assessment. That said, the US is experiencing both a decline in ethics in some spheres, as well as a populace having a greater awareness of the issues.
Also, some of the mistrust isn’t so much factual as manufactured by political parties, the press, and unscrupulous businesses. Sowing distrust is an effective manipulation and propaganda technique, and some areas experiencing that manipulation of trust are medicine (quack cures, anti-vaxx), government (deep state, elections), and expertise in general (conspiracy theories, filter bubbles). There are others, but these are the ones that come to mind.
Some of these issues of mistrust and false belief have been long-standing, but technology and the internet have exacerbated it, plus, it seems to be studied more and more.
You are talking to someone whose family fled Siberia in 1921, China in 1947, and Cuba in 1960. I have seen this happen and not through conspiracy theories. Tried to send this to you as a PM, however the last Firefox update screwed up my ability to do so. But I do want to keep this off the web so won’t continue the “discussion.”
No, the decay of America descending into authoritarianism and despotism isn’t a conspiracy theory - it is showing hallmark signs of decay into the abyss - nor was I accusing you of anything like harboring inaccurate beliefs. My apologies if I inadvertently insulted you. It was certainly not my intent.
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