I’m Type-1 diabetic, my pancreas quit when I was 10, and this fills me with equal parts rage & existential dread.
The clearest example of the American medical system being rigged is the way COMPETING fast-acting insulin prices have risen.
Brief thread. 1/
The clearest example of the American medical system being rigged is the way COMPETING fast-acting insulin prices have risen.
Brief thread. 1/
Background: Insulin is a necessary enzyme allowing sugar to enter your cells. You eat carbs, blood fills w/ sugar, pancreas makes insulin, sugar passes into your cells where it’s burned for energy. Without it your blood fills up with sugar, nowhere to go. Without it, you die.
Insulin’s been on the market for 100 years, saved millions of lives.
Two of the most popular insulin types today are Novolog and Humalog, competing fast-acting insulins that allow diabetics to control their blood sugars with a ~5 minute response-time. /3
Two of the most popular insulin types today are Novolog and Humalog, competing fast-acting insulins that allow diabetics to control their blood sugars with a ~5 minute response-time. /3
In the Idealized Capitalist System™, competition drives down prices!
If one drug gets too expensive, the other dominates the market, so both stay cheap!
But...
HERE are the American prices of Humalog & Novolog over 20 years... insulins made by 2. Different. Companies. 🤔
If one drug gets too expensive, the other dominates the market, so both stay cheap!
But...
HERE are the American prices of Humalog & Novolog over 20 years... insulins made by 2. Different. Companies. 🤔
But, Market Forces™ will prevail! Diabetics will learn to use other insulin types rather than buy into that racket. Free Market™!
US prices of Lantus & Levemir, two “competing” long-lasting insulin types that stay in your body ~24 hrs. Two different companies. Astounding. 🤔
US prices of Lantus & Levemir, two “competing” long-lasting insulin types that stay in your body ~24 hrs. Two different companies. Astounding. 🤔
Which is how you get insanity like this. In the richest country the planet has ever known.
snopes.com/fact-check/sha…
snopes.com/fact-check/sha…
I don’t know where to go w/ this thread other than being pissed.
I’m a PhD diabetic with kids in the US, dependent on highly-competitive research funding to keep a job w/ insurance, so I can afford insulin to live. My current funding runs out next year. It’s terrifying.
/fin
I’m a PhD diabetic with kids in the US, dependent on highly-competitive research funding to keep a job w/ insurance, so I can afford insulin to live. My current funding runs out next year. It’s terrifying.
/fin
ETA: I‘m enjoying all the guys ‘splaining to me “well see, your mistake is thinking medicine runs on a true free market system, when really it’s more like a...”
Like, I KNOW, y’all. It literally was the main point made in the thread. 🤷🏻♂️😐
Like, I KNOW, y’all. It literally was the main point made in the thread. 🤷🏻♂️😐
