Insulin prices in America remain between more than 10 times higher than the prices of the same insulin in other countries, according to a recent report.
The document was published by the Rand Corporation, a non-profit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis.
The organisation compared the cost of different types of insulin sold in the US to the price the same product costs in other countries.
- Quarter of Americans with diabetes are skipping insulin injections
- Almost 40% of American coronavirus victims had diabetes
The average price per unit across all types of insulin in America was $98.70 (£76.34). Other countries would have paid a fraction as much for the same insulins.
American prices were found to be 27.7 times higher than units sold in Turkey and 6.3 times higher than those in Canada, 5.9 times higher than those in Japan and 8.9 times higher than those in the UK.
Andrew Mulcahy, the study’s lead author and a senior policy researcher at RAND, said: “This analysis provides the best available evidence about how much more expensive insulin is in the US than in other nations around the world.
“Prices in the U.S. are always much higher than other nations, even if you assume steep discounts to manufacturer prices in the United States.”
Meanwhile, people with insulin-dependent diabetes in America are struggling.
Speak to the diabetes community
Dan Hart, from Philadelphia, has type 1 diabetes and lost his bar job in March when the pandemic first struck. He is relying on cheap Walmart insulin, which costs $26 (£19.76) a vial. His preferred insulin would end up costing him $1,500 (£1,121.20) a month.
Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “This Walmart insulin is not what I need to live a healthy diabetic life, it’s just a lifeline. I have definitely caused damage to my body because it’s hard to regulate my sugar with this insulin, but it keeps me alive.
“It’s really scary knowing that just to live day by day I always need insulin and companies are making profit over death. I try to not think about it, but there’s not one day I don’t.”
