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The rising cost of insulin causes diabetics to ration relief drugs and forces them to make spending choices, the Herald told a man with the disease.
Andrew Silva, 23, of North Attleboro, recently graduated from university and has been diagnosed with type I diabetes since the age of 7. On three occasions since 2013, he suffers from diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication that produces high levels of blood acids called ketones. The condition worsens when the body can not produce enough insulin.
Silva has become an activist of the problem, having experienced for himself what it is to live with complications.
In a tweet citing recent insights into how the price of insulin causes rationing, Silva said that rising costs were a "problem" and that his diabetic ketoacidosis was "an agonizing experience."
Silva spoke to the Herald yesterday about her personal experience with the disease and the new struggle that many diabetics have with finances:
"What I can say about my ketoacidosis experiences, even though I was only very early, is that it looks like a heartburn that will not go away. You are throwing up your guts, you have trouble concentrating. There is the impression that a radioactive device is in your abdomen.
"The cost of insulin has not had much impact on me yet, but some people have to decide how to spend their money based on their insulin amount. Some people have to ration insulin, which affects their health. People have to decide whether or not they can go out or they just have to spend money on drugs to keep themselves alive.
"In many ways, I've talked to people with type I diabetes, who have to try to keep insulin going for as long as possible because of rising costs." It's a big problem.
"At one time, diabetes was a death sentence. With the development of insulin, diabetes has become less problematic.
"The price of insulin has become astronomical and I would hate to see diabetes become a death sentence simply because it has become unaffordable. I do not know exactly what's going on, but my assumption is that companies, manufacturers and intermediaries are the cause.
"It does not happen in any other nation in the world. People able to afford insulin are virtually unknown all over the world. "
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