Due to the rising costs of insulin and many other prescription drugs, many patients are starting to reduce doses to conserve money.
Article Excerpt
“One in three Medicare beneficiaries have diabetes, and 3.1 million require insulin (1). As insulin prices rise (2), one in four people on insulin report reducing use due to cost (3). Insulin price and affordability concerns the 7 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries with Part D drug coverage, which requires significant deductibles and copayments and places no maximum on out-of-pocket costs (4,5).”
“From 2014 to 2019, the average annual insulin price rose 55% from $3,819 to $5,917 (Table 1). Monthly out-of-pocket cost for insulin in the covered phase increased 18% from $49 to $58. Accounting for all Part D phases, the projected yearly out-of-pocket cost for insulin increased 11% from $1,199 to $1,329. If insulin prices had remained at 2014 levels, annual out-of-pocket cost would have dropped 19% to $967 owing to lower coinsurance in the gap. This varied with the magnitude of insulin price increases. Lantus pen had the lowest price increase (19%), and annual out-of-pocket costs dropped $167 (−13%), although patients would have saved $292 (−23%) if prices had stayed at 2014 levels. Levemir experienced the greatest price increase (165%), and annual out-of-pocket costs increased $992 (79%) instead of falling $297 (−24%) as they would have if prices had stayed unchanged.”
Relevance
One large issue in our country right now is prices of prescribed medications. One of the most prevalent issues is access to insulin. Insulin is a necessary drug for many patients to be able to live, and without it many people would suffer harsh side effects and possible even death. With prices rising to insane costs, many people struggle to be able to pay for their own treatment, even with insurance not covering enough.
Due to insane rises in price, many people have started to ration off their insulin, or even in some cases stop taking their insulin all together. Doing this can cause the patient many more medical issues down the line that could cost them much more financially than the cost of insulin. However, many are just unable to afford this cost and make the choice to ration their treatment.
This information is valuable for my project because creating less expensive and efficient treatments is very valuable to patients. Although the ultimate cost of a product is not my final say, knowing this is an issue can help inform design decisions to hopefully bring down those costs. Therefore actually helping the people that this product would affect.
Sources
Juliette Cubanski, T. N., & 2019, A. (2019, April 2). How much does Medicare spend on insulin?. KFF. https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/how-much-does-medicare-spend-on-insulin/
Prasad, R. (2019, March 14). The human cost of Insulin in America. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47491964
Tseng, C.-W., Masuda, C., Chen, R., & Hartung, D. M. (2020, April). Impact of higher insulin prices on out-of-pocket costs in Medicare part D. Diabetes care. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7646207/
