The situation with the cost of insulin in the U.S, is not good, no question. But the kinds of problems discussed in the WP article usually just affect very low-income people who can’t afford private insurance and don’t qualify for or can’t get Medicaid, which is paid for by the government. This man’s situation puzzles me:
“His mother helped him look for a health plan on the marketplace set up by the Affordable Care Act, but his options were expensive. To keep going to the same doctors, she says, he was looking at paying about $450 monthly, in addition to a high deductible of more than $7,000, which would mean months of paying out-of-pocket for most of his medical care. He opted to go without insurance, forgoing that expense to focus on paying for his insulin and supplies until he could find a better option.”
First of all, the high deductible doesn’t apply to insulin or any other covered prescription drug. The $450 he could have paid would have gotten him all the insulin he needed after satisfying a low prescription deductible and paying a modest co-pay when filling the prescription. Buying the insulin out of pocket OTOH would cost much, much more than being insured. Rapid-acting is priced about $300 where I am and discount plans won’t save you much. I know all this because I was on a similar kind of ACA plan for a few years.
So, as written, there seem to be some holes in this story. But there’s no avoiding the fact that the cost of insulin here is out of control, whoever is paying the bill. Congress looks like it’s finally going to address this problem more aggressively but it’s not a done deal yet. But yes, socialized medicine has its advantages, particularly with diabetes.
