In My Own Words
by Flora Bessey, Pharm.D., BCGP
We are in the throes of political season! Each candidate and each party wants to take credit for lowering the cost of insulin to $35 per month. This has been a long standing talking point. A perfect example of this is: after the pandemic, California briefly had a budget surplus. With the surplus funds the state said it wanted to build its own insulin factory to ostensibly compete with the cost that the manufacturers were charging. No prizes for guessing the CA cost to patients; correct, it was going to be $35 per month.

I find this rhetoric to be very funny, and disingenuous, for multiple reasons. First, why are prescribers using insulin to treat patients so often, especially our long-term care residents? The prevalence of type 2 Diabetes is significantly higher than Type 1. Of course, type 1 can only be managed with insulin, but for type 2, we have so many better options. Many are dosed only once per week, and are covered by Part D plans and private insurance. The newer diabetes drugs even help with weight loss, and in many cases have been rebranded as anti-obesity drugs. These same drugs also have significant cardiovascular protective properties.

But back to the cost of insulin. The three major manufacturers of insulin, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Astra Zeneca, offer coupons online for their insulin products not to exceed a cost of $35 per month. There are specific instructions asking the pharmacy staff to process the claim through the patient’s insurance, and if the cost is more than $35 per month, then to process it using the coupon alone.

This policy has been in place since the mid 2000s. I, in my professional capacity, have an extensive understanding of the cost of drugs, and the demagoguery of this one issue. But, I have to wonder: how many other half-true or misleading talking points are being thrown at me where my capacity to judge the logic (or lack thereof) is less defined? 

Do your research, and don’t fall for the emotion!

Note: This opinion piece represents the position of the author and is not the official position of CALTCM.