Democrats Cheer After Drugmaker Cuts Insulin Prices

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Democrats are cheering after a major drugmaker announced it would cut prices for insulin today, and calling on other companies to follow suit. Here’s more from Reuters: Eli Lilly will cut list prices by 70% for its most commonly prescribed forms of insulin, Humalog and Humulin, beginning from the fourth quarter of this year, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.

The move comes amid criticism of healthcare companies by US lawmakers over rising costs of insulin, with Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act including a $35 cap on insulin for those enrolled in Medicare health insurance plans. “While we could wait for Congress to act or the healthcare system in general to apply that standard, we’re just applying it ourselves,” the company’s chief executive, Dave Ricks, told CNN in an interview.
-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/01/drugmaker-eli-lilly-cuts-insulin-prices

 

[Nebulous]

That is awesome! Americans pay like 200% more than the rest of the world for insulin. (I made up that number, but its something like that).

 

[KenDaGamer]

 

[Dee]

Working in healthcare, I get to see too many instances where insurance will refuse to pay for a certain medication and wants the patient to try a formulary alternative. We have to do so many prior auths or just prescribe a totally different medication because of how disgusting these practices are and how much these companies charge for their medications. It's nice to see some progress, even if it's only a little, in the right direction. Insurance companies practicing medicine by having the final say on what a patient is prescribed by their doctor and exorbitant prescription fees should be ILLEGAL.

 

[Nebulous]

Working in healthcare, I get to see too many instances where insurance will refuse to pay for a certain medication and wants the patient to try a formulary alternative. We have to do so many prior auths or just prescribe a totally different medication because of how disgusting these practices are and how much these companies charge for their medications. It's nice to see some progress, even if it's only a little, in the right direction. Insurance companies practicing medicine by having the final say on what a patient is prescribed by their doctor and exorbitant prescription fees should be ILLEGAL.

I agree 100% healthcare in the USA is fucked (in terms of affordability).

 

[PGen98]

Excellent news, no bring down the cost of Novolog, please!

 

[Webster]

Working in healthcare, I get to see too many instances where insurance will refuse to pay for a certain medication and wants the patient to try a formulary alternative. We have to do so many prior auths or just prescribe a totally different medication because of how disgusting these practices are and how much these companies charge for their medications. It's nice to see some progress, even if it's only a little, in the right direction. Insurance companies practicing medicine by having the final say on what a patient is prescribed by their doctor and exorbitant prescription fees should be ILLEGAL.

It could be worse; try having either Medicare and/or Medicaid for medical insurance....

 

[DrLeftover]

OK... they're lowering the price.

What will be the proverbial "next shoe to drop"?

They're going to stop making it?

 

[Webster]

OK... they're lowering the price.

What will be the proverbial "next shoe to drop"?

They're going to stop making it?

Funny thing, Doc, is that insulin, as a medicine, is one of the older medicines in existence, having been discovered back in the 1920's or thereabouts yet here its' almost prohibitively expensive compared to every other country with a functioning healthcare system. I mean, the prices are so ridiculous (yes, part of it is regulatory, most however can be chalked up to drug company greed) that the state of California, as much as I like to slag 'em, basically told them this....

California To Make Its Own Insulin In Fight Against Inflated Drug Prices

By sidestepping the big pharmaceutical corporations, California is taking matters into its own hands.

www.iflscience.com

 

[DrLeftover]

@Webster

Oh.

Shit.

THIS:

Insulin drugmakers under scrutiny for pricing, patent practices

Reports from a Congressional caucus and a consumer group could fuel further criticism of the top diabetes pharma companies, in particular Sanofi.

www.biopharmadive.com

and

https://haiweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/HAI_ACCISS_factsheet_insulinpatent.pdf

 

[Dee]

It could be worse; try having either Medicare and/or Medicaid for medical insurance....

Medicaid in the state I live is quite good *shrug*. But yes, I will actively try to avoid having Medicare when I qualify.

 

[Webster]

@Webster

Oh.

Shit.

THIS:

Insulin drugmakers under scrutiny for pricing, patent practices

Reports from a Congressional caucus and a consumer group could fuel further criticism of the top diabetes pharma companies, in particular Sanofi.

www.biopharmadive.com

and

https://haiweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/HAI_ACCISS_factsheet_insulinpatent.pdf

That's another reason for California deciding to cut the drug co's out and start producing their own insulin.

 

[Nebulous]

That's another reason for California deciding to cut the drug co's out and start producing their own insulin.

We are? Good for us.

 

[DrLeftover]

We are? Good for us.

Think about that for a minute.

California State Government, of "don't charge your electric car" and the High Speed Rail To Oblivion fame... is going to make medicine.


Would you take it?

 

[iMage]

This is great. Insulin should be FREE though. I have advocated for that for decades. My younger brother was Type 1 , used to be called Juvenille Diabetes. He was diagnosed when he was 2 yrs old. And had to take 4 needles a day and test his blood on a regular basis every day. He passed away when he was 24 from it. My mom found him dead after coming home from my gramas funeral.

I donate to the Canadian Diabetes Assoc every year in hopes they will find out how to cure this, or at least make those living with it lives easier

 

[Nebulous]

Think about that for a minute.

California State Government, of "don't charge your electric car" and the High Speed Rail To Oblivion fame... is going to make medicine.


Would you take it?

I'd trust it over anything that comes out of Illinois.

This is great. Insulin should be FREE though.

It should be, all health care should be free.

 

[Webster]

I'd trust it over anything that comes out of Illinois.

C'mon Neb, lots of good things come out of the Illini State - @DrLeftover, for instance.

 

[DrLeftover]

C'mon Neb, lots of good things come out of the Illini State - @DrLeftover, for instance.

There are some other things that come from this state as well... not many, and with the new paid leave law, there will be fewer as the career criminals in the state house try to run more businesses out (adding a significant burden to the cost of labor is a sure way to do it), but for now, there are still these:

and

Local man’s hot sauce company’s heating up

CENTRAL ILLINOIS, Ill. (WMBD) — From growing peppers to making hot sauces, one local man has found a way to make use of his garden. “(I) had a lot of peppers and needed something to do with them,&#…

www.centralillinoisproud.com

 

[Webster]

there will be fewer as the career criminals in the state house try to run more businesses out (adding a significant burden to the cost of labor is a sure way to do it)

Come to the Tarheel State, Doc; there's still plenty of room (and not as many crooks in Raleigh as there are in Springfield!).

 

[Nebulous]

C'mon Neb, lots of good things come out of the Illini State - @DrLeftover, for instance.

Aww

@DrLeftover were you born there?