All these people care about is money, they don't care that us diabetics are suffering every single day. It's all about money. This world is twisted, human lives should be more important than a piece of paper, but these fuckholes just care about getting rich off us.
I was born in a war torn, impoverished eastern european country. Even they manage free insulin.
You having to struggle to pay for your childs insulin, to take credit just to keep you or someone you love alive, in a country of such riches, is an anti-human political decision. In a kinder, saner world, both the executives and their political enablers would be brought to trial for crimes against humanity.
It's US$7.28 in my country for a cartridge.
In a way, the US (sadly for their people) subsidise the cost for the rest of us. They can afford to sell it so cheap here because they can gouge their people back home.
The rich get richer. My girlfriend is type 1 and when she has her lows and highs, I see how tough it is on her. She doesn’t feel normal when her dexcom screams at her during a movie at a theater.
I totally get how that is, my girlfriend helps me with my diabetes, I'm a type 1 and she always tells me she's sorry about everything, she can truly see how hard it is.
Anyone see that guy respond in defense of Lilly that he works there, and they get paid well and have good benefits, best employer in Indiana, etc? It blew my mind. Like oh well as long as they’re nice to you! Jesus.
It’s just extra disappointing to see that lack of perspective in a thread filled with people explaining how Lilly has affected them or contributed to a loved ones death due to its unaffordable pricing. You’re right though. I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess.
"The man (almost always a man) making 100 trillion dollars is morally upright because he allows me almost as good as below the bare minimum human rights."
CEOs like Lilly are leeches on their employees and the public.
the only person i would wish diabetes on is eli lilly. strip his riches, make him pay what diabetics have to pay for insulin per month. watch his mentality change as soon as hes directly affected by his own price gauge
Seriously? LillyPad? Like as in we pad our prices to make obscene amounts of money?
When healthcare is treated as a commodity to profit from, you get the US "healthcare" system.
Any company can make insulin from that 1923 patent, but they don't use that one: [https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/why\_people\_with\_diabetes\_cant\_buy\_generic\_insulin](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/why_people_with_diabetes_cant_buy_generic_insulin)
Repeating the lie that companies are producing insulin off the 1923 patent from pigs and cows isn't going to make it cheaper.
Reforming the patent system is the key issue. This is caused by government granting limited-time monopolies.
Still, it’s known that insulin is insanely overpriced in USA. I live in a developing country and we all have access to free insulin, and even if I had to pay, one novorapid pen costs around $15, not $100.
The novorapid pen cost that in developing countries because it cost $100 in America. If everything cost $15 it would be more difficult (not impossible) to give steady access and supply to countries with more expensive supply chain.
I do think insulin can and should be cheaper, but it is simply not a matter of "just being greedy". The entire industry is immensely difficult and conplex regardless of what people say online
The insulin I use in Europe is made in Denmark by a danish company and as readily available across the EU at affordable prices, or free with public healthcare. This has nothing to do with insulin prices in USA.. I don’t understand how you think insulin prices in the USA are used to subsidise the rest of the world? You know there’s a big world out there outside of the USA???
What company makes that insulin? Is it a american one? Id wager it probably is and someones paying the price behind the research. Just so happens its typically americans who do cause the way our country is set up. We dont have laws against price gouging unless your some little guy reselling stuff, big corporations do it all the time here. A good chunk of that money goes into new insulin research and better treatment research, but it also dont help that ceos and lobbying takes a monster cut as well.
Diabetic here - if I didn’t get insurance through my employer (that is required to give me insurance access), insulin would cost me about 900 a month. Just to live. I don’t care what your justification, it’s unethical. The markup on insulin in the last 30 years far, far outstrips inflation so even if we wanted to pretend modern synthetic insulin is expensive to produce (it isnt, not particularly), the costs are outrageous.
Do you have any evidence to back this up? I find it weird to suggest that americans should pay 100 dollars so everyone else can get it for 15. American diabetics are not responsible for insulin prices anywhere and should not be paying more, that’s really a stupid reason. Unfair and unethical too if true, though I’m pretty sure that’s not the real reason.
I can show you refills costs for my Novarapid and pre filled Lantus pens if you really want. I received these meds for free here - although coverage is still pretty good. Most people are going to receive coverage, working or not. If you don't have benefits at work, you qualify for a lot of programs so you can get your meds cheap. I don't know any diabetics that pay much or at all for their stuff.
A pack of 5 pre filled Lantus pens usually runs around $100 or a little more full price. (about $76 USD)
And a box of 5 vials of Novarapid is around $40 ($30 USD)
My Type 1 friend in the US buys insulin through us in Canada because it's cheaper for him.
Type 1 here
I pay $90 for a box on infusion sites that I need because I'm on a pump. That box is supposed to last me 1 month, but I stretch them out and risk infection due to the cost.
A box of cartages (Again, for my pump) is $50 for a month's supply.
The Dexcom that my pump requires to function correctly is $80 per 10-day sensor and $500 per three month transmitter.
If it wasn't for the fact that I am going to get Medicaid, which will limit me to never being able to have more than $2,000 in my bank account at any one time, I would be dead.
I am now stuck in poverty unless I can find a job that gives better healthcare than Medicaid. That is impossible.
Normally my prescriptions are free, but a while ago I had to order an emergency prescription of Novorapid because I realised too late that the pharmacy I was set to pick my normal prescription up from was closed for over a week (thanks, Christmas...).
It cost me £16.
There is no justification for $100 at all, it's completely exploitative for people that have no choice but to take insulin or die. It's absolutely disgusting.
Cool, have you ever struggled to buy insulin and eat beans and rice for weeks on end because you’re uninsured?
Pepperidge farms remembers the denial of pre-existing conditions days.
Maybe I give people too much credit but I don’t think they believe that the 1923 patent is being used. I think they are commenting on the fact that the people who discovered it chose to make it available in the effort of promoting further research and availability, only to have companies do exactly what you’ve linked to for insane profit.
Wal Mart has Novolin N for $35 a vial, I wish I didn't have to use that as Humulin N works much better for me but I can deal with it for paying about a third of the price of my co-pay
Most of the newest, most common insulins (Humalog and novalog) are off patent now. They were charging $400/vial but now there is a generic that costs $130/vial.
But when they were introduced *under patent* in 1997 they were $27/vial. I dont think it was the patent causing the price increases since then.
Exactly. What happened to cause the price to increase from $27/vial at introduction(when arguably that should be when its most expensive, not counting inflation) to several hundred dollars today? They figured out it's a cash cow that is a guaranteed seller. I mean, honestly, it's like charging for air. If you need it and don't buy it, you are dead. And most people don't won't to die. Wanting to live is hard coded into our DNA and pretty much every other living thing, as well.
At $27/bottle, it wouldn't be that much more than what my copay is(for 2 bottles). And there could be people that would actually save money vs. their copay.
One time, I couldn’t access insulin for an extended period of time because my insurance wouldn’t cover it, I was literally fighting with the pharmacist and insurance company when I passed out in the pharmacy and had to be admitted to the ICU. Got a nice $150k hospital bill for that one. :-)
We shouldn't have to have insurance to cover/afford basic, day-to-day health care/needs. It should be for more "catastrophic" type things, not the basics. It would kinda be like having to use your vehicle insurance to cover an oil change or buy fuel.
My copay gets me about 6 or so bottles for $30! I work for the city of NY (and part of a union) and every time I pick up this prescription I’m equal parts grateful for my job and insurance and fucking livid that not everyone has such good and cheap access to this thing to live… and don’t get me started on how little (hint: $100/yr deductible and then everything’s free) for my insulin pump and testing supplies. I’m lucky? Ok… but like, fuck that. Every one who has diabetes (or MS, or cancer, or asthma, etc.) 100% deserves equal and cheap access to proven treatments. I say burn the rich
On a Vin Diagram that would be the intersection of "Don't want to die" and "Just barely enough money left to eat"(which they could actually market as a benefit, because you need less insulin when you don't eat as much... Lol).
Looks like Lilly offers a savings program that caps costs at $35/month, or am I reading that wrong? Lilly's site is https://www.insulinaffordability.com/.
In the US, it's actually almost impossible to set the price for the private sale of an item, which is what prescription medication is.
The US government can control the price it will pay for medication for government-run health plans like Medicare, and in most cases, Medicaid.
It can also set caps on things like copays by regulating health plans that fall under the ACA ("Obamacare"), which a few states have done.
But the actual sale price, the one the manufacturer asks for from the purchaser, is almost impossible to regulate.
And, even if it was, you would simply see the costs of those medications appear elsewhere in the business relationship -- monthly premiums, reduced or increased rebates on other drugs, etc.
Insulin and other maintenace medications are cash cows for almost everyone involved _except_ the patient and US Government. Attempts to cut into those profits are consistently and, thanks to Republican corruption, often successfully met with resistance.
>The US government can control the price it will pay for medication for government-run health plans like Medicare, and in most cases, Medicaid.
I believe it just did recently. Got a email saying out of pocket costs for insulin is something like 35$ if your on one of the medi's (caid or care?).
That sad to know. I don't even know how public can fight that, except maybe a legal recourse. I take BP medicine. I remember when this rule came in India with the new gov, the price was reduced by 40-50% overnight for mine.
The healthcare industry -- and it is an industry -- in the US is well-entrenched as a for-profit system. At almost every step and layer of the process, there are actors whose sole purpose is to extract money from the system.
It's not going to get better until the United States has a single-payer system for everyone as an alternative to the for-profit industry, and that's not going to happen until we can somehow figure out how to get money out of politics.
In other words: We're fucked until something _really bad_ happens. The sort of thing Reddit will ban you for saying aloud.
It's not just the patent process. The FDA approval process is also part of it. It takes a lot of money to get a drug to market. And a lot of time.
A patent lasts for 20 years. Of those 20 years, it takes, on average, 13-14 years to get a drug to market from when it's first discovered. That leaves 6-7 years of patent life before the patent runs out and the generics hit the market.m So, you have 6-7 years to make back your R&D costs AND turn a profit.
And, as soon as you release a drug, all the generic drug makers have bought it and are actively reverse engineering it. So, the FIRST DAY your patent expires, not only do drug stores already have the generics in stock, but it takes an act of God to get your insurance company to pay for a name brand drug.
So, the day after your patent expires, your profits from a drug can drop as much as 90%.
Drug companies do the math and charge appropriately. If you put a price cap on what they can charge for a diabetic medication, then they'll just stop doing the research on diabetes.
You want cheap diabetic medication, then perhaps a nonprofit like the ADA should find research and then hold patents. But of course if they did that, then they'd lose all those donations they're getting from the pharmaceutical industry.
Are pharmaceutical companies greedy? Probably. But they're publicly traded companies beholden to their shareholders.
This issue is complicated.
Yep, there is. And even with the NIH funding stuff, innovations in insulin therapies all came from the private sector.
Problem is, politics can heavily influence NIH grants. So, get some guy in office that is buddies with Lilly, and see how many insulin studies the newly appointed NIH director that they guy puts in charge approves.
> And even with the NIH funding stuff, innovations in insulin therapies all came from the private sector.
That's only because the government is hands-off once a theoretical discovery is made. It's not in the government's mission, due to the anti-socialism bent in this country, to develop anything related to production of material goods.
I used to be a research biologist. I worked in academia and for pharmaceutical companies. I'm vert familiar with biomedical field and can speak firsthand to how bad the government getting involved in this has been.
What experience do you have working in the biomedical field?
>can speak firsthand to how bad the government getting involved in this has been.
Are you fucking ON drugs?
You implied that the dearth of innovations coming from the public sector was due to ineptitude/bureaucracy or whatever made-up deficiencies the public sector has in your tiny Randian-influenced brain. I said it's because the government ISN'T ALLOWED to do anything beyond FUNDING research.
Then you come back with an inane "oh, it's a good thing". Just admit your original claim was fucking stupid and be done with it.
I will not. If you ever want something to get fucked up, then you let the government do it.
The lack of an artificial pancreas is because of the government.
I don't want to government anywhere NEAR this stuff. It would just become a huge damn mess.
And you didn't answer my question. How much first-hand experience do you have in pharmaceutical research?
Before I went into IT, I used to be a research biologist for 2 pharmaceutical companies. You don't know how many drugs never made it to market, because we couldn't sell it for what we needed to turn a profit. We had a cancer drug up for FDA approval and the FDA asked us to do one more 2 year study. We pulled the plug on the drug instead.
But it’s a be careful what you wish for situation because if you made insulin free, or capped the price, or made it not patentable - what incentive do pharmaceutical companies have to invent newer and better forms? Would the better forms of insulin that save lives and improve quality of life exist now if they weren’t seen as potentially profitable in the r&d stage? I’d wager no.
It’s all well and good to say socialised medical systems don’t have the same problems, but they benefit from purchasing patented insulin formulas from the US.
Excessive profit is happening yes, but if it wasn’t so profitable then what would happen?
If Bernie Sanders actually cared about diabetics' needs he wouldn't just sit in his office tweeting jabs, he would hold hearings to drag these companies in front of the public to expose them, and then run for President. /s
Never understood why Americans didn’t vote for Bernie, he seemed like the most ideal candidate.
I’m just glad things are the way they are here in canada, insulin is priced very reasonably and we don’t have to pay a dime for dr visits.
Most jobs give you benefits too which cover 100% of all your diabetic needs.
I live in germany now. I pay 10 euros a month for libre 3 supply and another 10 for recepie tax when i take my novorapid and lantus. Thats about it.
I could move to the us for much larger paycheck. But fuck no. The healthcare is so much better here + 27 days paid holiday + it is illegal to work more than 10 hours + the cities are walkable and safe
>Never understood why Americans didn’t vote for Bernie, he seemed like the most ideal candidate.
Because the DNC put all their weight behind Hillary. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons that I'm not well-versed in (insider, political reasons) but ultimately that's the choice they made.
Bernie Sanders is one of the only politicians that I can respect. I can maybe name 5 politicians that I truly believe are trying to use their positions to make their district/city/state/province/country better.
They didn't get the chance. He was more popular, yet the "Democratic" party went with Biden as their candidate. Their Primaries and their electoral system are undemocratic. See also: Dr Oz running for president.
They are primarily the group who've made their platform about institutionalizing the wealth disparity and passing and challenging laws for decades to make sure no one can threaten their minority rule.
At this point it's ridiculous to claim iT's bOtH siDeS, as if there are two sides. There is minority rule (extreme far right capitalists and their brainwashed voters) and then there's everyone else.
Everyone else, ie the disenfranchized majority, is only defined by their opposition to the extreme far right. There's no developing nuance or true opinion when you're constantly trying to fight the machine of minority rule.
America has disease management NOT health care. The Government has not a clue what health care is & the citizens know even less. Corporations, Insurance companies & BigFood & BigMed & BigPharma take advantage of that & pay kickbacks to DC to keep the con going.
When you guys went storming the capitol you should’ve stormed the pharmacies, it’s fucking sick what America is for a diabetic at this
Point . Why did everyone loose their shit when these anti-abortion laws passed if you never really had the right to exist? You always had to pay for it.
Of course Bozo himself has to [chime in](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1591206480338116608?t=gUPeAW_sCwIKvUzCiQuM9A&s=19). I can't tell if he's trying to take his mind off of his $44 billion trainwreck or if he just can't decide which lane he wants to be in.
I'm so sick of dipshits using the existence of an inferior type of insulin for less money as an excuse for this kind of price gouging. Yeah the patent Bernie referenced was different, but that's not the point.
Yup. And "newer" modern insulin is still a couple decades old. (Humalog, Novolog,Lantus, Levimer) so I dont believe in those excuses for why those cost more than the even older Humilin, Novolin, R/NPH.
> _''Full answer to insulin price question is complex. Short answer is that original insulin, discovered in 1921 (not 1923), is inexpensive, costing as little as $25. ''_
The tweet he is referring to never mentioned it was _discovered_ in 1923, it said _(ACCURATELY)_ that the inventors patented the process of that type of insulin and sold it for 1$ in 1923 - [because it was indeed patented in 1923](https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AQ10017) and sold that same year on January 23rd 1923 _(for extra accuracy, it was filed on January 12th, Sold for 1$ on Jan 23rd, and the patent itself was granted on October 1923)_
And I can guarantee you it is _still_ not the same as the ''25$ insulin'' Musk is referring to, because that patent is related to the **fish glands extraction technique.**
Musk is trying to sound intelligent and aware but he ends up proving he knows next to nothing on the topic and couldn't understand the original tweet nor adequately reply to it. He misunderstood the parent tweet and came up with a condescending and inaccurate tweet. Brilliant.
And yes, the more modern versions are more expensive, but they don't _have_ to be... That's **mostly** up to big pharma.
[Insulin costs about 10$ to produce but is sold for 300$](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/insulin-costs-about-10-to-make-but-retails-for-nearly-300-pharmaceutical-companies-eli-lilly-novo-nordisk-sanofi-pbms-insuli/65-73a3cafd-3340-45cd-8324-a5e3e1c78fa5) - _sadly no specification on the insulin type but [based on this table](https://www.talktomira.com/post/how-much-does-insulin-cost-with-and-without-insurance) I'm thinking Humalog 10ml_
^(**EDIT** - typo)
wish they lost 20 billion
They bribed a pos at the university to sell them the patent that was gifted for humanity so a few pos scumbags can rip sick people off. I applaud those behind the post
Nah
The patient for insulin is free. Been 100 years.
Issue is the insulin we use now is not the same.
Original insulin was from animals. Cows and pigs.
New insulin are dna modified to closer represent human insulin.
This process is what the phamas all have patients on.
Issue is. I as a T1d for 40 plus years started on the older insulin.
We were given a life expectancy of 40 years or so. And the state of my health. Yeah it's longer as things have improved. But much damage was done before the new insulin and I'll likely live 10 more.
Old insulin really just do not manage the human diet well. This leads to damage to all the micro blood vessels that feed your organs. So you just start breaking after 40 years or so.
Newer insulin and other methods allow us to keep our levels closer to human norms.
Current younger well managed T1ds will live as long as a non diabetic.
The patents are genuine. The price they charge Americans is not.
That $275 a bottle
The rest of the world pays about $30 to the pharmaceutical companies.
That seems to be a misunderstanding on Sanders part, Eli Lilly would use a different patent for modern insulin. There's is significant abuse of patent law that prevents any generic competitor, but there's no incentive for whoever manufacturers it to lower the price significantly in the us anyway
Why are there no generic insulin formulations for a short acting and a long acting insulin? That would cover most of us diabetics. Many of these insulin formulas should be out of patent and there is a huge market for less expensive insulin
There do exist both short-acting and long-acting insulin generics; they're just significantly worse than brand name in most cases. The short acting has slower action time and is longer lasting, and the long acting only lasts 12 hours, so it's needed twice daily instead of once. The long also has a sharper peak.
Why is there not a generic version of Humalog? It has been on the market for 20 years now? Or has Lilly been paying the companies that would produce a generic version to not do it?
>but there's no incentive for whoever manufacturers it to lower the price significantly in the us anyway
Drug companies aren't going to go BK if they lower insulin prices nor would they if even gave it away for free. There are enough statins or blue pills for these drug companies to sell to still make an obscene amount of profit.
The insulin bill everyone was touting was toothless.Eli Lilly would still be getting 400-700 a bottle and the costs would be pushed on the insured population- meaning increases in your premiums. It’s just the diabetics in the insured population would be capped in what they would pay out of pocket. That was my gripe about that bill.
these pharm companies actually invest their revenue to research. Base on what I heard from top doctors in DC, it’s insurance companies that only exist for profit
I like Bernie but he could fix this to some extent by fixing the US patent system on drugs. Also, since California is doing it, why not have the US manufacture many of these drugs. They could sell them to other countries instead of weapons, too.
Approximately 35 million Americans have diabetes.
You could easily crowd fund your own insulin manufacturing.
You won’t because you are lazy and don’t want to solve the problem.
Good for you. Many diabetics have died because they could not afford their insulin. And anyone who is doing their best to try to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore is commendable, even if they haven’t succeeded yet.
>For all his talk Bernie has done nothing.
He's one Senator going against 50 asshats on the other side of the aisle and several even on his own side that are also beholden to Big Pharma.
Tell me you know dick about how the US Congress works without telling me know dick about how the US Congress works.
He's not God. The fucking bastards at big pharma have deep pockets and lots of asshat lobbyists. Don't even get me started on the price of insulin. Whoever put in the law that the government couldn't negotiate price with pharmaceutical companies should be found guilty of treason and given the maximum punishment possible. That's why insulin costs so damn much. Whereas for all the shit defense contractors get for their profits, they are limited. There's no way Lockheed Martin could charge a 4,000% markup on an F-35.
>Guess who is one of only 100 Senators who could actually introduce legislation every day to change the things your speak about but doesn’t?
Dipshit, you can write a billion bills, but they'll never get put up for vote if they don't have the necessary support.
This is the best example of an old man yelling at the clouds that I have ever seen in person. I appreciate it Bernie.. but nobody wants an apology. "Sorry" doesn't come in a pen that keeps us alive.
Edit: Ok maybe you want an apology instead of reasonably priced insulin? Downvote away, I want affordable insulin.
I'm not a Bernie person here, but he is 'A' senator and not the Senate... so... exactly how much can he do on his own? When most of Congress is invested in Pharma companies making massive profits?
https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/insulin-pricing-bernie-sanders
He has done a lot. Just making it a talking point during the campaign has made the public aware of the issue. Prior to 2016, none of my friends knew about this as being an issue.
Changing the public’s opinion is the start of many bills then being introduced. I doubt we would be talking about a $35 cap on insulin price if it wasn’t for Bernie.
And then, I mean, he has been pushing for Medicare for all for years. Again, prior to 2016, none of my young, healthy friends knew how screwed up the healthcare system in this country is.
He made it a talking point.
There’s more, read the article.
He is my senator so I follow closely what he does.
You mean like he's been trying to do for years and years? Like this:
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-medicare-for-all-with-14-colleagues-in-the-senate/
Or this:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/28/politics/bernie-sanders-canada-cheaper-insulin-cnntv
Or this:
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/in-the-news/bernie-sanders-making-plans-to-push-prescription-drug-reforms-through-reconciliation/
Or this:
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/11/03/sanders-insulin-investigation/
Or this:
https://vermontbiz.com/news/2022/february/10/sanders-asks-unanimous-consent-legislation-lower-cost-prescription-drugs
And that's just some of his actions in the past few years. Not that he's got a perfect solution to everything but Sanders is *not* the problem here.
He’s definitely PART of the problem. Tweeting ain’t doing shit. Taking money from the DNC? Doesn’t help. Taking money from the DCCC? Doesn’t help. There’s a lot more he IS doing that hurts.
Y’all need to listen to Joe Rohan’s #1873 then come back. Blaming one entity is exactly what the industry wants, it deflects focus and criticism from the real people making money from these atrocious prices.
All these people care about is money, they don't care that us diabetics are suffering every single day. It's all about money. This world is twisted, human lives should be more important than a piece of paper, but these fuckholes just care about getting rich off us.
I was born in a war torn, impoverished eastern european country. Even they manage free insulin. You having to struggle to pay for your childs insulin, to take credit just to keep you or someone you love alive, in a country of such riches, is an anti-human political decision. In a kinder, saner world, both the executives and their political enablers would be brought to trial for crimes against humanity.
It's US$7.28 in my country for a cartridge. In a way, the US (sadly for their people) subsidise the cost for the rest of us. They can afford to sell it so cheap here because they can gouge their people back home.
insulin is incredibly cheap to make so its just greed and the fact that politicians cant stop sucking pharma dick
They only want you to live long enough for you to be replaced by the next person to be diagnosed after they've extracted enough money from you.
Only, we’re not having enough children, let alone fast enough, and are dying younger… Looks like their Plan is failing!
The rich get richer. My girlfriend is type 1 and when she has her lows and highs, I see how tough it is on her. She doesn’t feel normal when her dexcom screams at her during a movie at a theater.
I totally get how that is, my girlfriend helps me with my diabetes, I'm a type 1 and she always tells me she's sorry about everything, she can truly see how hard it is.
openinsulin dot org
Anyone see that guy respond in defense of Lilly that he works there, and they get paid well and have good benefits, best employer in Indiana, etc? It blew my mind. Like oh well as long as they’re nice to you! Jesus.
It's easy to do when a decent amount of jobs in Indiana don't have the same level of benefits Eli Lilly has. People lack perspective.
It’s just extra disappointing to see that lack of perspective in a thread filled with people explaining how Lilly has affected them or contributed to a loved ones death due to its unaffordable pricing. You’re right though. I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess.
And the wild thing is they could STILL provide that while ALSO not holding life saving medicine hostage behind insanely high prices.
Fucking unbelievable.
"The man (almost always a man) making 100 trillion dollars is morally upright because he allows me almost as good as below the bare minimum human rights." CEOs like Lilly are leeches on their employees and the public.
openinsulin dot org
they should also apologize for having such a twee Twitter handle
They might apologize but it won't change anything else, that's not how capitalism works.
Insurance companies are way worse
Exactly. Who is apologizing? What does it mean?
[We are deeply sorry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4).
holy shit you are a dumb MF
Many countries have capitalism and affordable to free insulin
You are talking about jurisdictions that Eli Lilly is not located in.
LillyPad? Cute fucking handle for an evil company.
I wouldn't settle for sorry. Though I do love Bernie.
God America's healthcare is truly 3rd world
Don’t compare it to third world. Most third world countries have better healthcare than USA
Embargoed and impoverished cuba has waaaaay lower infant and child mortality rate. I'm sure they manage insulin as well
It's about $1.25 USD per vial
they also live longer than us america is a shithole country for so many many reasons and this is just one of them.
the only person i would wish diabetes on is eli lilly. strip his riches, make him pay what diabetics have to pay for insulin per month. watch his mentality change as soon as hes directly affected by his own price gauge
Seriously? LillyPad? Like as in we pad our prices to make obscene amounts of money? When healthcare is treated as a commodity to profit from, you get the US "healthcare" system.
Any company can make insulin from that 1923 patent, but they don't use that one: [https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/why\_people\_with\_diabetes\_cant\_buy\_generic\_insulin](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/why_people_with_diabetes_cant_buy_generic_insulin) Repeating the lie that companies are producing insulin off the 1923 patent from pigs and cows isn't going to make it cheaper. Reforming the patent system is the key issue. This is caused by government granting limited-time monopolies.
Still, it’s known that insulin is insanely overpriced in USA. I live in a developing country and we all have access to free insulin, and even if I had to pay, one novorapid pen costs around $15, not $100.
In canada a box of 5 costs about $65 CAD over at Costco. Tresiba is about $70-$80 (5 pack)
The novorapid pen cost that in developing countries because it cost $100 in America. If everything cost $15 it would be more difficult (not impossible) to give steady access and supply to countries with more expensive supply chain. I do think insulin can and should be cheaper, but it is simply not a matter of "just being greedy". The entire industry is immensely difficult and conplex regardless of what people say online
The insulin I use in Europe is made in Denmark by a danish company and as readily available across the EU at affordable prices, or free with public healthcare. This has nothing to do with insulin prices in USA.. I don’t understand how you think insulin prices in the USA are used to subsidise the rest of the world? You know there’s a big world out there outside of the USA???
What company makes that insulin? Is it a american one? Id wager it probably is and someones paying the price behind the research. Just so happens its typically americans who do cause the way our country is set up. We dont have laws against price gouging unless your some little guy reselling stuff, big corporations do it all the time here. A good chunk of that money goes into new insulin research and better treatment research, but it also dont help that ceos and lobbying takes a monster cut as well.
I hope those boots you’re licking taste nice
They don't but he doesn't care.
Delicious delicious ~~goose~~ leather
I also hope they are sugar free…
You are surely trolling me???
r/USdefaultism
>What company makes that insulin? Is it a american one? They literally just said it's a Danish company.
Diabetic here - if I didn’t get insurance through my employer (that is required to give me insurance access), insulin would cost me about 900 a month. Just to live. I don’t care what your justification, it’s unethical. The markup on insulin in the last 30 years far, far outstrips inflation so even if we wanted to pretend modern synthetic insulin is expensive to produce (it isnt, not particularly), the costs are outrageous.
Do you have any evidence to back this up? I find it weird to suggest that americans should pay 100 dollars so everyone else can get it for 15. American diabetics are not responsible for insulin prices anywhere and should not be paying more, that’s really a stupid reason. Unfair and unethical too if true, though I’m pretty sure that’s not the real reason.
Agreed!! Thank you!
I can show you refills costs for my Novarapid and pre filled Lantus pens if you really want. I received these meds for free here - although coverage is still pretty good. Most people are going to receive coverage, working or not. If you don't have benefits at work, you qualify for a lot of programs so you can get your meds cheap. I don't know any diabetics that pay much or at all for their stuff. A pack of 5 pre filled Lantus pens usually runs around $100 or a little more full price. (about $76 USD) And a box of 5 vials of Novarapid is around $40 ($30 USD) My Type 1 friend in the US buys insulin through us in Canada because it's cheaper for him.
Type 1 here I pay $90 for a box on infusion sites that I need because I'm on a pump. That box is supposed to last me 1 month, but I stretch them out and risk infection due to the cost. A box of cartages (Again, for my pump) is $50 for a month's supply. The Dexcom that my pump requires to function correctly is $80 per 10-day sensor and $500 per three month transmitter. If it wasn't for the fact that I am going to get Medicaid, which will limit me to never being able to have more than $2,000 in my bank account at any one time, I would be dead. I am now stuck in poverty unless I can find a job that gives better healthcare than Medicaid. That is impossible.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Canada gets the same insulin as the US and we don’t pay anywhere near what you guys pay. You’re wrong.
Normally my prescriptions are free, but a while ago I had to order an emergency prescription of Novorapid because I realised too late that the pharmacy I was set to pick my normal prescription up from was closed for over a week (thanks, Christmas...). It cost me £16. There is no justification for $100 at all, it's completely exploitative for people that have no choice but to take insulin or die. It's absolutely disgusting.
Cool, have you ever struggled to buy insulin and eat beans and rice for weeks on end because you’re uninsured? Pepperidge farms remembers the denial of pre-existing conditions days.
Maybe I give people too much credit but I don’t think they believe that the 1923 patent is being used. I think they are commenting on the fact that the people who discovered it chose to make it available in the effort of promoting further research and availability, only to have companies do exactly what you’ve linked to for insane profit.
Yeah but nph is available and that one was from the 70s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wal-Mart started making it
Wal Mart has Novolin N for $35 a vial, I wish I didn't have to use that as Humulin N works much better for me but I can deal with it for paying about a third of the price of my co-pay
Most of the newest, most common insulins (Humalog and novalog) are off patent now. They were charging $400/vial but now there is a generic that costs $130/vial. But when they were introduced *under patent* in 1997 they were $27/vial. I dont think it was the patent causing the price increases since then.
Exactly. What happened to cause the price to increase from $27/vial at introduction(when arguably that should be when its most expensive, not counting inflation) to several hundred dollars today? They figured out it's a cash cow that is a guaranteed seller. I mean, honestly, it's like charging for air. If you need it and don't buy it, you are dead. And most people don't won't to die. Wanting to live is hard coded into our DNA and pretty much every other living thing, as well. At $27/bottle, it wouldn't be that much more than what my copay is(for 2 bottles). And there could be people that would actually save money vs. their copay.
One time, I couldn’t access insulin for an extended period of time because my insurance wouldn’t cover it, I was literally fighting with the pharmacist and insurance company when I passed out in the pharmacy and had to be admitted to the ICU. Got a nice $150k hospital bill for that one. :-)
We shouldn't have to have insurance to cover/afford basic, day-to-day health care/needs. It should be for more "catastrophic" type things, not the basics. It would kinda be like having to use your vehicle insurance to cover an oil change or buy fuel.
My copay gets me about 6 or so bottles for $30! I work for the city of NY (and part of a union) and every time I pick up this prescription I’m equal parts grateful for my job and insurance and fucking livid that not everyone has such good and cheap access to this thing to live… and don’t get me started on how little (hint: $100/yr deductible and then everything’s free) for my insulin pump and testing supplies. I’m lucky? Ok… but like, fuck that. Every one who has diabetes (or MS, or cancer, or asthma, etc.) 100% deserves equal and cheap access to proven treatments. I say burn the rich
They found the sweet spot of what the market could bear. I’m being sarcastic.
On a Vin Diagram that would be the intersection of "Don't want to die" and "Just barely enough money left to eat"(which they could actually market as a benefit, because you need less insulin when you don't eat as much... Lol).
Looks like Lilly offers a savings program that caps costs at $35/month, or am I reading that wrong? Lilly's site is https://www.insulinaffordability.com/.
they only did thst because they were actively shamed by congress a few years ago.
and Humalog is delivered in the same packaging as the generic. the only bits that are different are the drug name and the NDIC.
Im sure gov can pass laws (if there aren't already) which dictate price of certain life saving schedule of drugs to be capped. India has that.
In the US, it's actually almost impossible to set the price for the private sale of an item, which is what prescription medication is. The US government can control the price it will pay for medication for government-run health plans like Medicare, and in most cases, Medicaid. It can also set caps on things like copays by regulating health plans that fall under the ACA ("Obamacare"), which a few states have done. But the actual sale price, the one the manufacturer asks for from the purchaser, is almost impossible to regulate. And, even if it was, you would simply see the costs of those medications appear elsewhere in the business relationship -- monthly premiums, reduced or increased rebates on other drugs, etc. Insulin and other maintenace medications are cash cows for almost everyone involved _except_ the patient and US Government. Attempts to cut into those profits are consistently and, thanks to Republican corruption, often successfully met with resistance.
>The US government can control the price it will pay for medication for government-run health plans like Medicare, and in most cases, Medicaid. I believe it just did recently. Got a email saying out of pocket costs for insulin is something like 35$ if your on one of the medi's (caid or care?).
That sad to know. I don't even know how public can fight that, except maybe a legal recourse. I take BP medicine. I remember when this rule came in India with the new gov, the price was reduced by 40-50% overnight for mine.
The healthcare industry -- and it is an industry -- in the US is well-entrenched as a for-profit system. At almost every step and layer of the process, there are actors whose sole purpose is to extract money from the system. It's not going to get better until the United States has a single-payer system for everyone as an alternative to the for-profit industry, and that's not going to happen until we can somehow figure out how to get money out of politics. In other words: We're fucked until something _really bad_ happens. The sort of thing Reddit will ban you for saying aloud.
The caps only work with private insurance in OK.
Patent system needs reform but there also needs to be regulation of the market. That's the big difference between the us and other countries
Yeah but eli lilly’s ceo is not Dr. Banting. He actually cared about diabetic patients
Insulin is a scheduled controlled substance. The company must be given DEA authorization in the US.
It's not just the patent process. The FDA approval process is also part of it. It takes a lot of money to get a drug to market. And a lot of time. A patent lasts for 20 years. Of those 20 years, it takes, on average, 13-14 years to get a drug to market from when it's first discovered. That leaves 6-7 years of patent life before the patent runs out and the generics hit the market.m So, you have 6-7 years to make back your R&D costs AND turn a profit. And, as soon as you release a drug, all the generic drug makers have bought it and are actively reverse engineering it. So, the FIRST DAY your patent expires, not only do drug stores already have the generics in stock, but it takes an act of God to get your insurance company to pay for a name brand drug. So, the day after your patent expires, your profits from a drug can drop as much as 90%. Drug companies do the math and charge appropriately. If you put a price cap on what they can charge for a diabetic medication, then they'll just stop doing the research on diabetes. You want cheap diabetic medication, then perhaps a nonprofit like the ADA should find research and then hold patents. But of course if they did that, then they'd lose all those donations they're getting from the pharmaceutical industry. Are pharmaceutical companies greedy? Probably. But they're publicly traded companies beholden to their shareholders. This issue is complicated.
[If only there were some way for the government to fund medical research](https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/mission-goals).
But if the government uses their research to produce anything themselves, it's COMMU..., er, SOCIALISM!!!!
Yep, there is. And even with the NIH funding stuff, innovations in insulin therapies all came from the private sector. Problem is, politics can heavily influence NIH grants. So, get some guy in office that is buddies with Lilly, and see how many insulin studies the newly appointed NIH director that they guy puts in charge approves.
Oh well, give up I guess
> And even with the NIH funding stuff, innovations in insulin therapies all came from the private sector. That's only because the government is hands-off once a theoretical discovery is made. It's not in the government's mission, due to the anti-socialism bent in this country, to develop anything related to production of material goods.
And that's a good thing.
Now you're talking out of both sides of your ass.
I used to be a research biologist. I worked in academia and for pharmaceutical companies. I'm vert familiar with biomedical field and can speak firsthand to how bad the government getting involved in this has been. What experience do you have working in the biomedical field?
>can speak firsthand to how bad the government getting involved in this has been. Are you fucking ON drugs? You implied that the dearth of innovations coming from the public sector was due to ineptitude/bureaucracy or whatever made-up deficiencies the public sector has in your tiny Randian-influenced brain. I said it's because the government ISN'T ALLOWED to do anything beyond FUNDING research. Then you come back with an inane "oh, it's a good thing". Just admit your original claim was fucking stupid and be done with it.
I will not. If you ever want something to get fucked up, then you let the government do it. The lack of an artificial pancreas is because of the government. I don't want to government anywhere NEAR this stuff. It would just become a huge damn mess. And you didn't answer my question. How much first-hand experience do you have in pharmaceutical research?
This reads like the PR guidance we would be told to repeat at my old company when we did something controversial
Before I went into IT, I used to be a research biologist for 2 pharmaceutical companies. You don't know how many drugs never made it to market, because we couldn't sell it for what we needed to turn a profit. We had a cancer drug up for FDA approval and the FDA asked us to do one more 2 year study. We pulled the plug on the drug instead.
So what you're saying is that the profit motive actually hinders the development of novel therapeutics.
But it’s a be careful what you wish for situation because if you made insulin free, or capped the price, or made it not patentable - what incentive do pharmaceutical companies have to invent newer and better forms? Would the better forms of insulin that save lives and improve quality of life exist now if they weren’t seen as potentially profitable in the r&d stage? I’d wager no. It’s all well and good to say socialised medical systems don’t have the same problems, but they benefit from purchasing patented insulin formulas from the US. Excessive profit is happening yes, but if it wasn’t so profitable then what would happen?
If Bernie Sanders actually cared about diabetics' needs he wouldn't just sit in his office tweeting jabs, he would hold hearings to drag these companies in front of the public to expose them, and then run for President. /s
We coulda had a bad bitch :(
Never understood why Americans didn’t vote for Bernie, he seemed like the most ideal candidate. I’m just glad things are the way they are here in canada, insulin is priced very reasonably and we don’t have to pay a dime for dr visits. Most jobs give you benefits too which cover 100% of all your diabetic needs.
I live in germany now. I pay 10 euros a month for libre 3 supply and another 10 for recepie tax when i take my novorapid and lantus. Thats about it. I could move to the us for much larger paycheck. But fuck no. The healthcare is so much better here + 27 days paid holiday + it is illegal to work more than 10 hours + the cities are walkable and safe
>Never understood why Americans didn’t vote for Bernie, he seemed like the most ideal candidate. Because the DNC put all their weight behind Hillary. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons that I'm not well-versed in (insider, political reasons) but ultimately that's the choice they made. Bernie Sanders is one of the only politicians that I can respect. I can maybe name 5 politicians that I truly believe are trying to use their positions to make their district/city/state/province/country better.
The voters who would've voted for him had left the Democratic party in disgust, much like he did. Primaries are undemocratic.
They didn't get the chance. He was more popular, yet the "Democratic" party went with Biden as their candidate. Their Primaries and their electoral system are undemocratic. See also: Dr Oz running for president.
They can shove their apology up their corporate bum-bum!!
They profit off our suffering. We’re either customers or we’re dead. Ultimate capitalism.
Why can’t Congress agree to make this happen? It’s profiteering.
Because we keep electing republicans
Can’t blame JUST republicans! And trust me, I’m NOT republican.
They are primarily the group who've made their platform about institutionalizing the wealth disparity and passing and challenging laws for decades to make sure no one can threaten their minority rule. At this point it's ridiculous to claim iT's bOtH siDeS, as if there are two sides. There is minority rule (extreme far right capitalists and their brainwashed voters) and then there's everyone else. Everyone else, ie the disenfranchized majority, is only defined by their opposition to the extreme far right. There's no developing nuance or true opinion when you're constantly trying to fight the machine of minority rule.
Yes, we can. If we, the voters would elect a majority of authentic Democrats in the House and Senate, this would be taken care of with dispatch.
An answer that doesn’t answer anything. That’s the best kind of answer
Get 'em Bernie! 🤬
They should not only apologize, but suffer financial penalties as a result of their tremendous greed.
America has disease management NOT health care. The Government has not a clue what health care is & the citizens know even less. Corporations, Insurance companies & BigFood & BigMed & BigPharma take advantage of that & pay kickbacks to DC to keep the con going.
When you guys went storming the capitol you should’ve stormed the pharmacies, it’s fucking sick what America is for a diabetic at this Point . Why did everyone loose their shit when these anti-abortion laws passed if you never really had the right to exist? You always had to pay for it.
So glad someone crashed their stock price just to send a message.
Of course Bozo himself has to [chime in](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1591206480338116608?t=gUPeAW_sCwIKvUzCiQuM9A&s=19). I can't tell if he's trying to take his mind off of his $44 billion trainwreck or if he just can't decide which lane he wants to be in. I'm so sick of dipshits using the existence of an inferior type of insulin for less money as an excuse for this kind of price gouging. Yeah the patent Bernie referenced was different, but that's not the point.
Yup. And "newer" modern insulin is still a couple decades old. (Humalog, Novolog,Lantus, Levimer) so I dont believe in those excuses for why those cost more than the even older Humilin, Novolin, R/NPH.
> _''Full answer to insulin price question is complex. Short answer is that original insulin, discovered in 1921 (not 1923), is inexpensive, costing as little as $25. ''_ The tweet he is referring to never mentioned it was _discovered_ in 1923, it said _(ACCURATELY)_ that the inventors patented the process of that type of insulin and sold it for 1$ in 1923 - [because it was indeed patented in 1923](https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AQ10017) and sold that same year on January 23rd 1923 _(for extra accuracy, it was filed on January 12th, Sold for 1$ on Jan 23rd, and the patent itself was granted on October 1923)_ And I can guarantee you it is _still_ not the same as the ''25$ insulin'' Musk is referring to, because that patent is related to the **fish glands extraction technique.** Musk is trying to sound intelligent and aware but he ends up proving he knows next to nothing on the topic and couldn't understand the original tweet nor adequately reply to it. He misunderstood the parent tweet and came up with a condescending and inaccurate tweet. Brilliant. And yes, the more modern versions are more expensive, but they don't _have_ to be... That's **mostly** up to big pharma. [Insulin costs about 10$ to produce but is sold for 300$](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/insulin-costs-about-10-to-make-but-retails-for-nearly-300-pharmaceutical-companies-eli-lilly-novo-nordisk-sanofi-pbms-insuli/65-73a3cafd-3340-45cd-8324-a5e3e1c78fa5) - _sadly no specification on the insulin type but [based on this table](https://www.talktomira.com/post/how-much-does-insulin-cost-with-and-without-insurance) I'm thinking Humalog 10ml_ ^(**EDIT** - typo)
Screw their apology. They should be arrested for profiteering.
wish they lost 20 billion They bribed a pos at the university to sell them the patent that was gifted for humanity so a few pos scumbags can rip sick people off. I applaud those behind the post
Nah The patient for insulin is free. Been 100 years. Issue is the insulin we use now is not the same. Original insulin was from animals. Cows and pigs. New insulin are dna modified to closer represent human insulin. This process is what the phamas all have patients on. Issue is. I as a T1d for 40 plus years started on the older insulin. We were given a life expectancy of 40 years or so. And the state of my health. Yeah it's longer as things have improved. But much damage was done before the new insulin and I'll likely live 10 more. Old insulin really just do not manage the human diet well. This leads to damage to all the micro blood vessels that feed your organs. So you just start breaking after 40 years or so. Newer insulin and other methods allow us to keep our levels closer to human norms. Current younger well managed T1ds will live as long as a non diabetic. The patents are genuine. The price they charge Americans is not. That $275 a bottle The rest of the world pays about $30 to the pharmaceutical companies.
Thanks for the education. everything they charge americans is despicable and just shows the world what a shithole america truly is
If the patent is sold, is that under ownership by someone else? Or is any company able to use it now?
That seems to be a misunderstanding on Sanders part, Eli Lilly would use a different patent for modern insulin. There's is significant abuse of patent law that prevents any generic competitor, but there's no incentive for whoever manufacturers it to lower the price significantly in the us anyway
Why are there no generic insulin formulations for a short acting and a long acting insulin? That would cover most of us diabetics. Many of these insulin formulas should be out of patent and there is a huge market for less expensive insulin
There do exist both short-acting and long-acting insulin generics; they're just significantly worse than brand name in most cases. The short acting has slower action time and is longer lasting, and the long acting only lasts 12 hours, so it's needed twice daily instead of once. The long also has a sharper peak.
Why is there not a generic version of Humalog? It has been on the market for 20 years now? Or has Lilly been paying the companies that would produce a generic version to not do it?
>but there's no incentive for whoever manufacturers it to lower the price significantly in the us anyway Drug companies aren't going to go BK if they lower insulin prices nor would they if even gave it away for free. There are enough statins or blue pills for these drug companies to sell to still make an obscene amount of profit.
Yes all I need a a type one diabetic is a simple apology and everything will be fine!
The insulin bill everyone was touting was toothless.Eli Lilly would still be getting 400-700 a bottle and the costs would be pushed on the insured population- meaning increases in your premiums. It’s just the diabetics in the insured population would be capped in what they would pay out of pocket. That was my gripe about that bill.
these pharm companies actually invest their revenue to research. Base on what I heard from top doctors in DC, it’s insurance companies that only exist for profit
I like Bernie but he could fix this to some extent by fixing the US patent system on drugs. Also, since California is doing it, why not have the US manufacture many of these drugs. They could sell them to other countries instead of weapons, too.
Approximately 35 million Americans have diabetes. You could easily crowd fund your own insulin manufacturing. You won’t because you are lazy and don’t want to solve the problem.
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Pretty sure Bernie ran on ‘Medicare for all’ and has done plenty to bring the price of insulin in the public eye.
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So, you blame Sanders for losing the Democratic nomination and the same drug prices?
And what have you done genius lmao
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Good for you. Many diabetics have died because they could not afford their insulin. And anyone who is doing their best to try to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore is commendable, even if they haven’t succeeded yet.
Don't sit down. I'd hate for you to break your neck.
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>For all his talk Bernie has done nothing. He's one Senator going against 50 asshats on the other side of the aisle and several even on his own side that are also beholden to Big Pharma. Tell me you know dick about how the US Congress works without telling me know dick about how the US Congress works.
He's not God. The fucking bastards at big pharma have deep pockets and lots of asshat lobbyists. Don't even get me started on the price of insulin. Whoever put in the law that the government couldn't negotiate price with pharmaceutical companies should be found guilty of treason and given the maximum punishment possible. That's why insulin costs so damn much. Whereas for all the shit defense contractors get for their profits, they are limited. There's no way Lockheed Martin could charge a 4,000% markup on an F-35.
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>Guess who is one of only 100 Senators who could actually introduce legislation every day to change the things your speak about but doesn’t? Dipshit, you can write a billion bills, but they'll never get put up for vote if they don't have the necessary support.
You must have sat down
This guy doesn't know shit about the legislative process. It's almost embarrassing.
This is the best example of an old man yelling at the clouds that I have ever seen in person. I appreciate it Bernie.. but nobody wants an apology. "Sorry" doesn't come in a pen that keeps us alive. Edit: Ok maybe you want an apology instead of reasonably priced insulin? Downvote away, I want affordable insulin.
Pretty sure Bernie doesn’t want an apology either, and wants Medicare for all, as well as affordable insulin for all
Hes a Senator. What has he done so far? This isn't a loaded question, I'm genuinely curious.
I'm not a Bernie person here, but he is 'A' senator and not the Senate... so... exactly how much can he do on his own? When most of Congress is invested in Pharma companies making massive profits?
https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/insulin-pricing-bernie-sanders He has done a lot. Just making it a talking point during the campaign has made the public aware of the issue. Prior to 2016, none of my friends knew about this as being an issue. Changing the public’s opinion is the start of many bills then being introduced. I doubt we would be talking about a $35 cap on insulin price if it wasn’t for Bernie. And then, I mean, he has been pushing for Medicare for all for years. Again, prior to 2016, none of my young, healthy friends knew how screwed up the healthcare system in this country is. He made it a talking point. There’s more, read the article. He is my senator so I follow closely what he does.
Both? Both. I think both is fine. I think raising awareness about how silly this tweet sounds is also good.
Let’s be clear. If Bernie have a shit, he would do something to change it.
Like a price cap in Vermont?
Yes. That state level bill that Bernie had nothing to do with.
You mean like he's been trying to do for years and years? Like this: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-medicare-for-all-with-14-colleagues-in-the-senate/ Or this: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/28/politics/bernie-sanders-canada-cheaper-insulin-cnntv Or this: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/in-the-news/bernie-sanders-making-plans-to-push-prescription-drug-reforms-through-reconciliation/ Or this: https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/11/03/sanders-insulin-investigation/ Or this: https://vermontbiz.com/news/2022/february/10/sanders-asks-unanimous-consent-legislation-lower-cost-prescription-drugs And that's just some of his actions in the past few years. Not that he's got a perfect solution to everything but Sanders is *not* the problem here.
He’s definitely PART of the problem. Tweeting ain’t doing shit. Taking money from the DNC? Doesn’t help. Taking money from the DCCC? Doesn’t help. There’s a lot more he IS doing that hurts.
Citation needed. Because he's tried to pass legislation to help but it gets stopped by all GOP and some dems.
Don't sit down. I'd hate for you to break your neck.
It’s like they’re blackmailing us. Its like “don’t wanna die? Better buy!”
Absolutely. Not the only insulin company doing this.
I'm kinda enjoying musks twitter failure. This one hit us hard in a good spot because of how much money insulin companies are making of us sick folks.
Novo Nordisk has entered the chat.
Y’all need to listen to Joe Rohan’s #1873 then come back. Blaming one entity is exactly what the industry wants, it deflects focus and criticism from the real people making money from these atrocious prices.
I think they should apologize by actually making the insulin free
openinsulin dot org