on Jan 12th, 2007How Medicaid Tamed the Diabetes Epidemic by Lassoing Insulin
If corporations could corner the supply of oxygen in the world, then I have not doubt they would so they could charge you monopoly prices for such a basic commodity. Why not. They’ve already done it for water. So it’s no surprise that the pharmaceutical companies have jacked up the price of insulin for the treatment of diabetes. Somehow health and profits are like oil and water.
As they examine their state health care budgets, 11 of the nation’s governors have identified one big-ticket item they think should cost less: insulin. The drug cost state Medicaid programs $500 million in 2005. And in the face of an epidemic of diabetes, the governors are asking why there is no cheaper generic version of a drug that, in one form or another, has been used since the 1920s.
Bridling at Insulin’s Cost, States Push for Generics
By STEPHANIE SAUL
New York Times, January 11, 2007
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