America's Choice

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In$ulin Sticker Shock

Americans Deserve Better Drug Pricing
          Diabetics in the US are doing everything they can to get the drug which allows them to continue to live – insulin.  Around since the 1920’s, the cost has risen over the past decade three-fold. 
​          To cope with this, patients are forced into desperate measures including reducing the dose, skimping on utility payments, and even cutting back on groceries.  The logical consequences of this have followed: complications of diabetes including blindness, renal failure, amputations and even death, not to mention ruining family finances. This issue devotes several articles to this topic.
​          The first is a compelling story Stayed Overseas for Insulin - Went For School that tells the story of an American who attended graduate school in Germany and found her monthly bill for insulin and supplies which had been about $200 per month in the US, dropped to less than $4 per month.  Never having to worry about affording essential medication again, she stayed on in that country. 
          Another article Expensive Insulin – How Insulin Prices Tripled contrasts the statements and actions of HHS Secretary Alex Azar, as the President of Eli Lilly and in his current position.  During the five years that he led Eli Lilly, the price of insulin tripled.  Since being the head of HHS, he has said “drug prices are too high” but they continue to rise, even insulin.
          Broadening the topic, the article Cheaper Drug Imports – “Gimmick” or “Open for Business” discusses a strategy that many Americans have adopted to afford medications; buy them abroad. The title refers to statements made by HHS Secretary Alex Azar. 
Linda M Christmann, MD, MBA
Editor-in-Chief ​
Stayed Overseas For Insulin 
Went For School 
​Shefali Luthra
​Back in Seattle, where Katie West used to live, she typically paid $70 per month for insulin and another $130 for pump supplies. In Germany, she pays about 10 euros, roughly $11. Every three months.
Cheaper Drug Imports
“Gimmick” or “Open For Business”?
​​Phil Galewitz
Many people may be familiar with proposals to give our seniors access to cheaper drugs by importing drugs from other countries, such as Canada. This, too, is a gimmick.
Alex Azar, HHS Secretary
Infectious Disease Threats
​Emerging Vector-borne Viruses​​​​
​​Ronald Rosenberg, ScD
​The discovery of three highly pathogenic viruses in China during the past five years underscores how we need a strategy for preemptively identifying arboviruses with the potential for emergence and to devote resources to.
Nightmarish Care
Deadly Aftermath of ICU Treatment​​​​
​Mieke Visser, MD
The fundamental problem of today’s health care system is that it might make patients feel like things, sick and old objects of many in a row, instead of human beings who are respected as individuals.
Other articles
​Healthcare Leadership - The Current Fad for Hospital Power   
Hospital Systems – Understanding How Hospital Systems Interact   
Epidemic of Immobility – Harm By Keeping Patients In Bed
Detection of Drug Reactions – Predictive Modeling
Evidence For Hand Hygiene – Versus Other Preventive Strategies
In$ulin Sticker Shock – Americans Deserve Better Drug Pricing
Hospital Scorecard – Five Years US Hospitals Performance
​and more....
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