Many people depend on insulin just to stay alive. Pharmaceutical companies know that–and take advantage of it. They have raised their prices for this relatively inexpensive drug by 1000% over the last 20 years, leading people to cut down on their doses in order to afford it or to share with a loved one, thus endangering their health and lives. But they have no other choice.
Remember that this is a drug whose discoverers, back in 1922, sold the patent for a single dollar to the University of Toronto with the assurance that it would be available for all who needed it
Now Colorado has stepped in. They just passed a bill that no one can be charged more than $100 (yes, one hundred) a month out-of-pocket for their month’s supply of insulin. In addition, the bill requires an investigation into the pricing of that drug and a report given to the governor by 2020.
The 400,000 Colorado citizens will have to wait until Jan. 1, 2020, for the law to go into full effect, but at least they have hope.
Seems to me that this would be a good law for all the other states to enact.
