Walmart sells insulin for $25 per vial [1]. There are cheaper offers, still.
The problem is there are newer formulations with advantages in terms of convenience, safety and durability. These require R&D to develop and are not universally available. (Diabetic friend had trouble finding his preferred formulation outside the U.S., U.K. and Sweden, for instance.)
We have huge problems with healthcare in America. But the insulin meme is misleading to the point of derailing discussions about legitimate reform.
In Russia all patients get their insulin for free thanks to mandatory health insurance (5.1% of your net salary additionally paid by employer).
If for some reason you would want to buy insulin, it would cost you 2-12 usd per vial/cartridge (3ml x 100units)
A cartridge of most modern European or American rapid insulin costs 5 usd [0][1] and the most modern long or ultralong insulins cost 9-12 usd [2][3]. Russian own insulins cost 2-4 usd per vial/cartridge.
Do you know why the same companies charge you at least 10 times more than a Russian citizen?
I wander what are the 'huge problems with healthcare in America' if overpaying 10 times for insulin isn't one of them?
They only need be registered as unemployed. The law [0] is in Russian but Google Translate does a good job [1], see 5.d
Free medical care in Russia is far from perfect, of course -- sometimes you have to wait for a month for an ultrasonic scan, sometimes they give you Russian insulin instead of Danish, but they will save you from a heart attack, install a stent and provide with necessary medications for at least a year.
Not sure about Russia but where universal healthcare exists, you don't lose acces to it when you don't work/pay.
They go do the doctor as they would normally do and when they start working again they'll start paying their share.
That's how it is in Spain. Also if you don't work, you don't pay the drugs, at least some of them. But the subsidized part of the price depends on your income.
Oh, no, sorry, it's the same for everyone.
I meant a year is how long they think one needs to use medication to avoid repetition of a heart attack, that was just an example. If one needs further help, one will get it.
If you are on some 'plan' then you are mostly likely not paying list. Your insurance company usually has cut some sort of deal with the distribution company. Usually that 'deal' includes not telling you about their deal and showing you only list price.
If you are not on a plan. Sometimes you can ask 'hey is there a no plan version' and sometimes they do have it. That can be hit or miss depending on who is working the register that day.
If you are not on a plan and they say 'nope thats the price' then you end up in that category.
"Diabetic friend had trouble finding his preferred formulation outside the U.S."
In European countries, there are about 20 formulations available, all well below 10 USD per vial of which 100% is compensated by the obligatory health-insurance.
There is no market for marginal improved, extremely overpriced medicine outside of pharma-marketing heavens.
The insulin Walmart sells is not the best insulin, and the chemical composition of the insulin is important. Not all insulins are the same, and no everyone reacts the same to all insulin types.
That’s not “a meme”, a bad type of insulin can kill you or send you to the hospital.
The $25 type is of the R/N/L variety. The thing that sends you to the hospital with that type isn't it being "bad", it's ignorance. You need to be aware of the effectiveness curve (or whatever it's called) and take it / eat correctly based on that. It's not hard, it's just far less convenient then more recent insulins.
It's also a good idea to keep a sugar source available in case you can't keep food down for the amount of insulin you took (ie, you suddenly get nauseous after taking your insulin); which is also true of newer insulins, just less likely because there's less delay between taking it and eating.
For anyone who sees this, the $25 vial is for Novolin R, which has a longer absorption rate than modern analog insulins. It's a great option for people on low-carb diets or those who have food absorption problems since you have more time to react to lows and it matches slower absorption of proteins and high fat meals if you don't have an insulin pump that can handle that type of meal for you.
But there's also a new release from Walmart for an analog insulin was just announced a few weeks ago! It's a Novolog equivalent and what many people are using today with insulin pumps and diets that have fast absorbing carbs: https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2021/06/29/walmart-re...
The vials are around $70ish US dollars and the pens are around $85ish. That's a wayyyy more affordable rate (50-75% less) than paying out of pocket for Novolog or Humalog. Also keep in mind that manufacturers also have programs to assist you with insulin costs if you can't afford it.
1ml has 100 units. You basically take your weight in kg in units per day. However if you are overweight or sick you need more because of insulin resistance.
One pen has 3ml in it. So if you weigh 70 kg, you go through one vial in 3-4 days.
A vial and a pen are different. A vial has 10 units. I use between 1 and 2 vials a month. I weigh 70kg, I use about 40-50 units a day via pump [which is more efficient than a pen]. My prescription co-pay is $10 for the two vials of Humalog [a 30 day supply].
250 USD per month at the minimum. You also need to purchase blood sugar test strips which also cost a considerable amount. You need to check BG levels at least 4-5 times a day (usually you check much frequenter than that).
People are willing to forego doses, reduce their nutrition to pay less. There are diabetics who die because they were trying limit their doses.
People also use Walmart insulin (insulin R), which us much much shittier than the modern insulins (fast acting insulins). It is much harder to control blood sugars with insulin R, because it's onset and clearing out levels are very long and inconsistent. You need to inject before you eat a meal, wait an hour, hope you don't get low and eat. You can survive on them but it's much harder.
People also use expired insulin (me included), because it doesn't expire 100%, its effects get less over time. People use second hand medical devices (insulin pumps), fix them themselves (because its out of warranty and they can't afford a new one), mod the devices by flashing open firmware so that they can do looping. Diabetics are used to gamble with their lives, because the pharma companies don't have our backs.
The real issue with diabetes is that you somehow survive, but if you don't have access to modern technology, you feel sick all the time because of ups and downs and you are much more susceptible to complications.
As a diabetic, you feel like a ticking time bomb.
People would definitely be willing to inject some backstreet cooked stuff. It's a life or death kindof thing. As a diabetic you leave so much things to chance that you probably simply won't care. Me at least, I am trying to survive, if I can't afford insulin and the only option I have is to use shitty insulin I'll take the chance. If I die, I die. Because I'll definitely die horribly if I don't take insulin.
I worked with a guy with diabetes. Hes about to retire around now.
The company we were working for was acquired by a VC backed larger entity who offered much less in terms of benefits. His out out pocket expenses increased quite a bit as the new entity self-insured and even the best health plan had really high deductibles and the coverage was not great even after that. IIRC it covered like 60-80%, its a bit foggy because I could basically never use it.
He was using blood test strips and injecting insulin because it was the only thing that fit in his budget. We talked about it very occasionally, I asked him if he could get the electronic insulin thing that attaches to your arm and talks to your iPhone, and he told me about the coverage and costs and he really couldn't swing the out of pocket.
This guy was pretty advanced in years and had controlled his diabetes pretty well, but I saw the inconvenience and sometimes normal forgetfulness affect him often. His mood would be unpleasant at times, and I could see that he was often not feeling ok. Eventually, his doctor had an old tamagotchi looking leftover electronic blood sugar monitor that he ended up giving him for free, I guess it was old enough it wasn't going anywhere. His doctor thought the diabetes could be better controlled and took it upon himself to try to get him to upgrade his quality of life.
He used that for a while and it was a bit janky but worked, I noticed his mood and demeanor improve quite a bit for a few months, this also improved our work, but he stopped using that because there was some upkeep on it that was also not covered in our plan. So he went back to the blood-finger-strips.
I felt pretty bad about this situation, this dude was stuck in a job that even I hated (and quit, nowadays I have BCBS from an actually good organization) because the old, acquired company had a really good deal: Employee Ownership. When the firm acquired and consolidated that company, they took on the employee ownership agreement. This was a huge chunk of this man's retirement, but the new deal required him to stay on in order to claim the benefits he had been planning on retiring with for 25 years.
He could definitely have quit and made more money with better benefits, but he would have lost his retirement strategy.
It was the same with me. I couldn't afford a continuous glucose monitor. I was checking my blood sugar 10+ times a day, because I was having hypoglycemia anxiety.
Even after I got a job and starting earning money, I hesitated getting a continuous glucose monitor because it costed so much. I was using the cheapest glucose meter that tested with blood, because the strips were cheap. It turned out that machine was inaccurate and my diabetes nurse gifted me a better glucometre.
I recently was able to switch to a continuous glucose monitor (the tamagochi type thing) and things got much better.
The problem is there are newer formulations with advantages in terms of convenience, safety and durability. These require R&D to develop and are not universally available. (Diabetic friend had trouble finding his preferred formulation outside the U.S., U.K. and Sweden, for instance.)
We have huge problems with healthcare in America. But the insulin meme is misleading to the point of derailing discussions about legitimate reform.
[1] https://diabetesstrong.com/walmart-insulin/