California Prepares to Manufacture Its Own Insulin

by Pa Rock

Insulin User

In a move sure to raise the hackles of pharmaceutical industry whisperers Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema,  Governor Gavin Newsom of California has announced that his state is exploring the idea of manufacturing its own insulin to provide to California diabetics at a fair price.  In fact, "exploring" may be somewhat of a misnomer because manufacturing insulin is already a part of the current budget planning in California.  Newsom is serious AF!

And while the state legislature of Missouri would never be caught dead doing anything that would actually benefit the citizens of their state, this California initiative is important to me - and to diabetics in every state.    When California begins making its own insulin, the outrageous profiteering of drug companies over the life-saving hormone will be starkly visible for all to see.  The drug companies will either have to start pricing insulin more in line with what it actually costs them to make it, or some other states (but never Missouri) will begin to follow California's bold lead!

While researching Governor Newsom's plan I came across a statement by GoodRx Health which said that a single vial of "some mixed insulins" can cost more that $300 - and I am here to tell you that figure is light.

I just finished a three-week process of getting a new 90-day supply of insulin - for me that is six vials.  I have a Medicare "Part D" plan as well as a full insurance plan - in addition to Medicare - which I kept when I left my last job.  Part D was designed intentionally by the Bush administration not to cover very much of anything, but my other plan acts as a supplement to the Part D coverage - and, on insulin, at least - I never pay anything out-of-pcoket.  I am fortunate and I know it.  (Of course, I also pay dearly for the benefit with monthly premiums to two insurance providers.)

But figuring my bill is a complicated process, and all of the local pharmacies have been experiencing staffing shortages and big turnover since the pandemic began. so I have come to expect that it will take two trips to the pharmacy before getting any order properly completed.  But this recent insulin order took five trips - all across town - and a couple of phone calls. The new employees would listen impatiently as I explained how to do their jobs, promise that it would be fixed by tomorrow, and then when I left would put the matter back on the shelf to let someone else deal with it the next time I came in.

Finally, on Tuesday, I was assured by a senior employee, that it would be in tomorrow (Wednesday) and there would be no co-pay, as God intended.  Then Tuesday evening, just to insure that I did not sleep well, I got an automated call from the pharmacy telling me that the insulin was in and my co-pay was  $810.00!

I went in Wednesday morning, encountered the pharmacy's newest employee, and gave her a crash course in customer relations.  She wanted $810 dollars, but first I asked to physically see the insulin.  She was only able to produce a single vial.  Then I asked how much my Part D provider had already paid, and that figure was somewhere north of $1,300.  Even the new employee was able to recognize that more than $2,100 for a single vial of insulin might be wrong.  Again, I was assured that it would be resolved later in the day when a more knowledgable employee came on duty.

It was.  I got six vials of insulin with no co-pay, though the process did my nerves and blood pressure no favors!   But now, of course, my other insulin, the one that I take from an injector pen every evening before bed, is running low and will need to be refilled.  Have mercy!

And six vials of insulin at more than $2,100 is something like $350 per vial.  (Missouri pricing, no doubt.)

Governor Newsom,  you are onto something.  Make it happen!