Americans with diabetes buy up to 90% less Canadian insulin than Canadian reserves could be low / Boing Boing

Soaring insulin prices, caused by prices, have endangered the lives of Americans with diabetes, who ration their supplies and try not to die.

All of this is part of the story of how the for-profit American health care system is radicalizing Americans and pushing them to take desperate measures (that's the plot of the story of the title in my last book).

The last expression of this desperation is the "Caravan in Canada" group of Americans with diabetes who train caravans and buy insulin in Canadian pharmacies (insulin Canadian costs 90% less than the clinically identical US version as prices for Canadian pharmaceuticals are set by a government agency called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board).

America has about 10 times more Canadians than Canada, which worries some figures in the pharmaceutical industry. Barry Power, Director of Therapeutic Content for the Canadian Pharmacists Association, told the CBC: "Considering population disparity, a small percentage of Americans coming to Canada represent a disproportionate increase in services and supplies destined for Canada. "

Lija Greenseid, caravan organizer in Canada, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her 13-year-old daughter has type 1 diabetes, and she and her husband have insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Last year, she said she spent $ 13,000 to get health insurance, and then $ 14,000 before her daughter's insulin was covered.

"This is a huge amount of money for us because of that, we have not put money into our kids' education savings accounts or anything. Retired for the year, we really had to pay our health care bills, "says Greenseid.

"So now you can see why we are doing crazy things like crossing the border and buying insulin."

Why desperate Americans drive in Canada in insulin caravans [Emma Davie/CBC News]

(Image: Quinn Nystrom)

<! –

->