Wednesday, April 6, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Lawmakers in Congress have been promising to tackle rising drug prices for years, but so far there’s been little action. The outrageous price of medicines has made prescription drug reform a top issue for years now as well as one that attracts bipartisan support. A recent poll showed that 91% of voters considered lowering drug prices a very important issue in the upcoming election.
Of course, for millions, worry about affording prescriptions long preceded the pandemic crisis or the latest concerns about inflation. Drug corporations have been raising prices faster than inflation for years, while people of all ages struggle to keep up or are forced to choose between medicine and other basic necessities.
For some people, access to medication becomes a life-or-death situation. Diabetes is a disease of the pancreas, and can take on several forms, including gestational diabetes during pregnancy, and type 2 diabetes, which is often a factor of genetics and lifestyle choices. Type 1 diabetes is classified as an autoimmune disease, and people who have it do not make any insulin on their own. Without insulin, blood sugars rise, causing severe complications like blindness, stroke, heart attacks and neuropathy. Without daily injections of insulin, people with type 1 diabetes will die, but oftentimes the cost of accessing medication is prohibitive.
As a tenured teacher with four college degrees and a wealth of experience, I have had to juggle between paying rent on time, buying groceries, and picking up prescriptions at the pharmacy. With insurance, the cost of medication is between $250 and $300 per month, simply for diabetes medication. Without insurance, it would be over $3,000. Still, I go through monthly battles with my insurance company about how much insulin it will provide, what type of insulin it will provide, and what coupons it will accept to help lower the cost. It’s a game that few are willing to play, but when you are dealing with life-saving medications, it’s a game you are obligated to try to win.
While the federal government has paused student loans, I have used that extra money to help cover gaps in coverage and to pay out of pocket when my insurance has delayed response times, and to pay off accumulated medical bills. However, with the rising cost of living in Southern Nevada, looming student loan repayments on the horizon and no cure for type 1 diabetes, I worry about the continuing struggle to pay for everything. Health care should be sustainable, especially for those who have chronic illnesses like type 1 diabetes.
Millions of people are desperate for a solution to prescription drug price gouging but Congress doesn’t have multiple chances to get it right, and patients have already waited too long. The time is now.
Proposals like creating a national insulin cap are getting a lot more attention than negotiations these days, but any proposal that caps the cost of one or more drugs will not fundamentally address the root of the problem, which is rising prices. The government can take action to help seniors and others afford their medicine, but without negotiations that actually stop the drug corporations from charging whatever they want and raising prices at will, cost containment can only have limited impact for a limited number of patients while burdens continue to rise for taxpayers, businesses and those paying premiums.
Capping the cost of insulin is a worthy idea, but it won’t, for instance, stop drug corporations from setting the price of cancer drugs outrageously high and forcing up to half of cancer patients into debt to get life-saving treatments. Nor will it stop drug corporations from raising prices on common drugs that seniors and the rest of us use every day. Caps may mean individuals pay less at the pharmacy, but they will pay more in premiums and more in taxes for programs like Medicare.
The price of half the drugs in Medicare increased faster than inflation in 2020. Those premium increases were not tied to one specific drug, but to thousands of commonly used medications. Currently, there is no limit on what seniors pay out of pocket for drugs in Part D, forcing many to skip doses, not fill prescriptions or go forgo other critical needs to get their medicines.
As the House has now passed a bill capping the cost of insulin, the Senate must follow suit and give the American people a form of relief.
Jamie Tadrzynski is a teacher at Canyon Springs High School and has lived in Las Vegas since 2012.
