Eli Lilly ’s Price Cut Is Gamechanging. But Insulin Isn’t the Only High Cost for People With Diabetes

Early each year, Kristin Thompson-Lerberg sits down with her husband to plan how they’ll reach their family’s insurance policy’s $3,000 deductible. The conversation is always short: Thompson-Lerberg needs about 8 vials of insulin each month to treat her Type-1 diabetes, and at $275 per vial before insurance kicks in, it takes just two months to reach the deductible from insulin alone. But their budget expanded after pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced on Mar. 1 that the monthly out-of-pocket prices of their insulin brands will soon be capped at $35 regardless of a person’s insurance. For Humalog, the company’s best-selling insulin brand (and the one Thompson-Lerberg uses), that amounts to a 70% price cut in list price. “This news from Eli Lilly will be life-changing for our family,” Thompson-Lerberg says. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] While some have criticized Lilly’s announcement as being too little, too late after decades of insulin price hikes, the change will have a huge financial impact for many of the 8.4 million Americans who rely on insulin to regulate their glucose levels. Diabetes care accounts for a quarter of all money spent on U.S. health care, according to the American Diabetes Association, and insulin is a large part of that price tag. A quarter of people in the U.S. with diabetes have reported rationing their insulin for financial reasons. “Diabetes is a very expensive illness,” s...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Health Care healthscienceclimate Source Type: news