Republicans Vote to Keep Insulin Prices High

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I am an insulin-dependent Type II diabetic.  My daily regimen includes taking one type of insulin three times a day, and a second type at bedtime.  My health condition is stable only because I am able to follow my doctor's orders with regard to the insulin.  If I was unable to take the amounts he prescribes and on the schedule he sets, my health situation would deteriorate rapidly.

The price of insulin has gone up over 500% during the past few years - and the price rise has not been due to the standard economic pressures of supply and demand.  Insulin prices have risen sharply because there are a limited number of companies manufacturing insulin, and those few companies collaborate to fix the price of their medicine at a level far above what it costs to actually make the life-saving drug. They have a captive market and they are milking it.

I am able to get my insulin each month because I have two full insurance policies, something which costs me dearly.  But many older Americans have no insurance beyond Medicare.  Medicare will pay for a few diabetes supplies - such as a new glucose meter every five years, but it does not cover diabetes medications such as insulin.  The George W. Bush administration (under a great amount of public pressure) enacted a drug benefit plan for Medicare called Part D, a plan which requires a separate premium and which has large deductibles and only covers a portion of drug expenses.

My Medicare Part D plan alone would still leave me owing hundreds of dollars each time I picked up a ninety-day supply of insulin.

Fortunately, I kept my insurance plan from my days as a full-time worker, and that full insurance plan serves as a Medicare supplement and pays most of the costs of medications that are not covered by Medicare Part D.

So I pay big premiums each month - but I am able to take the medications that my doctors prescribe, including two forms of insulin.   Many others, however, are not so fortunate.  Some people in my neighborhood - and in every neighborhood in America - skip taking medications because they cannot afford them, or they take them less frequently or at a lower dosage than their doctor recommends.

Some countries put safeguards in place to keep their citizens from being ripped off by the drug companies.   Canada, for instance, sells medications made in the United States for less than those same medications sell for here.  Canada is able to do that because its government negotiates with drug manufactures over the cost of prescription drugs imported into their country.   And while the United States does make the pharmaceutical companies give discounts to some government programs - Medicare Part B, the Veteran's Administration, and Medicaid, for instance - ordinary citizens pulling up to the pharmacy drive-through window are at the mercy of the predatory whims of Big Pharma.

This week the US House of Representatives took a first step in trying to rein-in the price of insulin.  The House passed a bill (232-193) which would cap the price of insulin at $35 dollars per individual per month., a bill that would literally make the life-saving drug available to most Americans.  (Twelve Republicans voted for the measure along with all voting Democrats.  The 193 no votes were all Republicans.)

The measure still has to pass in the Senate where filibuster rules will require a 3/5ths vote for approval - or the support of all Democrats and at least ten Republicans - something that is unlikely to happen.  (Most Senate Republicans are no more concerned with the needs of average Americans than are most House Republicans.)

(The Senate filibuster is an arcane Senate rule designed to defeat the will of the majority.  It has no basis in the Constitution.)

My own congressman, Republican Jason Smith of southeast Missouri, a man who has many, many diabetics residing in his congressional district (Missouri's 8th), inexplicably voted against capping insulin prices.  In his most recent weekly email newsletter, Congressman Smith wisely chose not to mention his vote that supported Big Pharma and Big Insurance, and crapped all over his constituents.

As long as big corporations keep pouring cash into the pockets of greedy and shameless politicians - our flawed political processes - average Americans will continue to suffer.  It is cheaper for the fat cats to buy off our politicians than it is for them to do what is right and treat American consumers fairly.

Shame on the lot of them!