Insulin is expensive in the US because of greed. Period.

I didn't know EA owned life-saving drug companies too. Wanna live? *pay.*

Just remember insulin was developed by dr Banting and assistant Best. He sold the rights to insulin for 1 dollar. Why is it so expensive GREED.

There's a fine line between corporate greed and extortion, and I think this has definitely crossed that line.

Most items on this "So Expensive" series: caviar, pearls, Louboutin shoes, are luxury items none of us need, so it's kinda fun to hear about. Insulin is completely different.

As a Swiss Diabetic I am shocked to hear that: I dont even know the price of Insulin in Switzerland, because I am fully covered by Healthcare.

Here's a good title for this video, "How Insulin companies get away with price gouging".

I watched this with a heavy heart. I live in the UK, and my son was diagnosed as having T1 last year (2021). The National Health Service (NHS) covers the cost of everything to do with his treatment, etc. I dread to think what would have happened to our finances if we lived in the States or some other country where the price of insulin is astronomical. How can the US government allow this to happen? Surely, one of the strengths of any nation is the quality health of its citizens. People don't have to sell their houses to buy insulin for heavens sake. This is capitalism at its worse.

Insulin can cost as low as $2.50 here in Brazil.

In Spain the price of insulin is close to $5 thats how broken the system is in the USA

I've been watching loads of these now (you know, Corona) and from all the things like foie gras, weird dog breeeding shit, stupid expensive handbags, etc... about which every commentor complains, this is on a new lvl. This is life saving for loads of people. This isn't a luxury item in an actual first world country. If this isn't just about free in your country, you aren't a first world country, period.

In Australia under the PBS ( Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) my insulin costs me about $3 ($2 USD) per week. Every Australian is covered by the PBS.

This is scary. I am a kid with type 1 diabetes, and I hear my mother talk about the prices of insulin all the time. I didn't know that things were this bad until now...

You can get 6 vials for 10€ in Finland. America needs to fix this problem, like I mean *HAS* to.

I'm a 13 years old with type 1 diabetes and I had no idea that other people pay so much for their insulin

Eli Lilly's CEO David A. Ricks salary is $1.4 million a year!!!

Someone has to remake Breaking Bad with insulin instead methamphetamine

Question:why are drugs so expensive? Short answer: Because the drug companies can charge whatever they want.

You could simply make a law that says when a patent has been extended for a change, only the change would be patented. The original product's patent should expire irrespectively.

It’s a shame, still to this day nothing has changed. I’m a type 1 diabetic and it’s a constant fear in the back of my mind that I have to worry about the prices for my medicine and pump supplies… makes me sick..

Textbook example on why sociopaths are the best businessmen

Sad to see this mess of a medical system. I live in Germany and I pay 5€ for my Insulin... Per Month!!!

As a Norwegian with diabetes I can't believe this. In Norway we got something called (egenandel) that is the money you pay for medicine, doctors appointments and so on. when you reach 210$ the rest is free for the rest of the year.

I never thought I’d watch an episode of this show and be absolutely depressed by the end of it. The way that woman right at the end of the clip described the issue was so eye opening. It’s just a small amount of liquid but it’s an actual life and death situation

The CEO's should be investigated for running a cartel.

Sounds like a monopoly to me.

I am so glad I have the NHS

It's not a problem of "no competition", the problem is capitalism controlling healthcare, period.

The problem is not insulin production, it's the ridiculously expensive healthcare system.

Politicians out here targeting big tech companies when they should be targeting pharmaceutical companies

As someone who has a partner with type 1 it's scary to know he could go through KA at any moment, along with his already reduced lifespan, reduced immunity, and other things I may have failed to research at this point. He'd always say he's fine, but there are days where he's suddenly depressed and I could understand why. It's overwhelmingly frustrating that the US is too insufferable to at least put up regulations to lower the cost of insulin.

one world : This is Amurica

The manufacturers have one question... "What is the price of your life?"

This video just inspired me to become an insulin dealer!

When you have a small group of companies controlling the market things like this are bound to happen.

Thanks to the ACA my insurance went up to 900 dollars a month, I need insurance since I'm diabetic. so basically its very hard to pay for everything if you make too much to be on welfare, but not enough to comfortably afford the insurance premiums and deductibles.

Your American money is welcome at Canadian drug stores.

Insulin in Canada is so much cheaper than in the us people flock over here to buy it (because you don’t need a prescription for insulin in Canada)

There are some startling differences in price between the U.S. and Canada. According to one report, the retail price of a vial of Humalog in the U.S. is $300. In Canada, the same vial costs $32. According to media reports, a growing number of Americans cross the border into Canada to get their insulin

Just make you own for cheap. knowledge is power

In India insulin vials costs around 5 dollars and there are more than and there are 9 to 10 companies manufacturing it. Even Abott. So why does Abott doesn't sell insulin in USA? ANS. . . . . . FDA. Seriously man it sucks to even hear about such costly meds in USA.

Sugar is ultra cheap and available. Insulin isn't. Smells like a conspiracy.

In the Netherlands we normally don't even know the insuline prices as all drugs required for chronic patients are 100% covered by our insurance system. A friend of mine is a pharmacist and she said that a month supply of insuline would be around €25.-

"You don't have enough of a fricken liquid, that your life depends upon?" Classic...! 😂😂

They need to be taken to court for price fixing

This is What happen when we go Full capitalism , in India the vial of insulin Costs around 2$ my family members are diabetic and I know what role insulin plays in their daily lives.

"The best healthcare system in the world" as so many Americans keeps screaming when a social medical system is suggested. Well, this is what your system creates

As someone who worked in retail pharmacy for nearly three years and is currently a career bioengineer in the biotech industry everything said here I'd say is 95% accurate. I am not going to invalidate people who are unable to afford insulin; however, from my time working in a pharmacy I have never once seen anyone pay out of pocket (OoP) for insulin. There have been times peoples insurance wanted to ask for prior authorization or have a renewal time period (meaning they renew the plan without telling the patient) and they paid MSRP, but were later reimbursed the money they paid. This does not mean that NO ONE continues to pay out of pocket for medicine, so I believe it does happen, I just haven't personally seen it. For those struggling with affording insulin, I highly suggest seeing if you qualify for state insurance. State insurance is the closet thing we have in the United States that follows the principle of "affordable healthcare" (know that it is never free, even in countries that say it is). Other insurances that are similar but may have a deductible ranging 1000-4000 are United Healthcare, Aetna, Multi Plan PHCS, and Neighborhood Health plan. If you are an individual who is armed service use your tricare plan. You literally never pay a dime. For anyone 65 and older the best thing for you is Humana or Medicare. If these are still not working for you, you can go to your local pharmacy and ask for a pharmacy discount. If they say they don't that's bullshit, because again companies want the pharmacy to use their discounts. They have the ability of meeting insurance or beating insurance prices depending on the drug product; however, know that it doesn't always mean you will have the best discount. I have seen some drug products OoP costing $200 discounted to $190, so keep that in mind. The last thing I can suggest is GoodRx, as they are another discount company that can help. You may find other discounts if you search hard enough, but this is my suggestion based on my professional experience. You may even be able to find humanitarian organizations that help those who are homeless or in poverty. For those interested in learning more, I highly suggest looking into what is a "biosimilar" and how it differs from "generic", and I suggest understanding who the European Medical Agency (EMA) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) are, and how they differ from each other in the approval process for a biologic and medical device (as insulin comes in a vial and/or a auto-injection device). This is a big reason the USA and oversees countries have differing medicines. Similarly, look into understanding how a pharmacy and insurance company operate and develop their cost strategies. I'll be completely honest, you can't put too much blame on the biotech companies and their final prices. Keep in mind it costs on average 2-3 billion dollars to bring a biologic to market and roughly 80-90% of phase III candidates fail to commercialize. Those that do commercialize then struggle with expansion and debt, as they are spending more than they can chew in the first 20 years (how long a patent takes to expire). When they do expand they go into debt again. For example, one biotech facility can cost upwards of 100-300 million dollars to construct and validate for commercial use. Then they are spending another triple digit million figure to pay for materials, repairs, cleaning, employee salary, healthcare, and the list goes on and on. Best to those out there!

I see US healthcare is working as intended.....

Man so much scumbags in the pharmacy industries

In my town Walmart price is $27, Smiths price well over $200 per vial. I LOVE WALMART!

Always feel free to come get insulin in Canada. It's only $35 a vial over here.

This video makes me mad. It makes me wonder how many people have died due to lack of insulin due to it being Expencive

Cheapest insulin vial is 2$ And generally ranges from 3$ to 5$ in India..

As a fellow diabetic I would like to make a statement. Eating too much surger does not cause Type 1 Diabetes.

Last I went to istanbul turkey and I forget my insulin realized when I bordered the plane ✈️ when I landed istanbul went straight to pharmacy bought one box basaglar for only $30 when it coast me in the USA for &357 dollars It’s rib off here in the states

In the UK the same 3 companies monopolise the insulin market and are selling the same exact products as the US, except a vial only costs the NHS approx £15-30.

Obvious collusion between supposed competitors, a refusal to regulate life saving drug prices, and the unquestionable importance of profit over human life.

I’ve checked the price for Fiasp (ultra fast acting insulin) in the US without insurance. Seems it’s between $350 to $650 for ONE 10 ml vial. I use one vial of Fiasp over 2 to 3 weeks. I live in Denmark and the price for it, without insurance, is 222 Danish Kroner. With current exchange rate, that’s around $29.70. The price has actually gone down by 30 DKK (~$4) recently, because the medicine board chose to restrict insurance to it, due to it getting too expensive. Prices kept creeping up. The restriction came because the benefit is minor to most people compared to the most common fast acting insulin, which is significantly less expensive. Fiasp is only used for people who have a difficult time controlling blood sugar spikes after meals, and for those people, insurance will still cover it. I pay, with insurance, around ~$250/year for my insulin.

Using google, a site says a typical vial of insulin that will last a diabetic about 10 days cost $300 in the U.S while the exact same kind of insulin in Canada is $30. That is 10x less which makes this even sadder

$250 for insulin? Dude that thing is $2 in India. Money chuggers!!

So that's this freedom in the US everyone talks about, huh?

TBH it’s pretty clear the issue is a massive trust, lack of competition, and incentives from insurance and privatised healthcare to charge INCREDIBLY HIGH to share profits.

Insulin is about £30-£60 for a months supply at cost price to the NHS, if I remember correctly.

It’s because it’s _Supreme_

It is quite cheap in India around $2 here. The value can vary a little depending in the company but it is minimal. India has its own generic medicine stores too.

I can relate to this because half my family has diabetes and they got it genetically

Why is insulin so expensive? Because the consumer has to make up for all the money pharma pays in rebates to docs and hospitals, rebates and discounts to pharmacy retailers and huge campaign donations and lavish vacations to politicians. These monthly rebates are in the billions overall per MONTH!!!!!

In England you get medications free! Just do this: Move to England Pay taxes Go to your doctor The doctor prescribes you insulin You go to a major shop, Tesco or Asda And you just get free insulin!

The Swedish health care system does a lot better. I am a Sudanese PhD student in Sweden who gets insulin, blood sugar testing kits and pretty much everything I need to live a healthy life for free. Paying taxes and getting something in return is so gratifying.

“The freer the market the freer the people” Yeah right

If there weren't so many restrictions on who can produce insulin i doubt this would be a problem >_

We live in Bangalore India. I just now paid the equivalent of $650 for 1 whole year of insulin for my dad!!!! In the cool RYZODEG insulin pens, too, not just vials !! That is right, SIX HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS FOR ONE WHOLE YEAR OF TOP NOTCH INSULIN. There is something absolutely broken with US Healthcare when this kid in this video is paying as much for 1 month as we are paying for 1 year (we got 25 pens for this price). Thanks for the piece. Shocking !!!

The dumb thing about U.S medical industry is that prices aren't regulated but production heavily is, you essentially have an entire market made up of just a few giants who make ridicioulus profits because other people's lives depend on it, if you're gonna regulate the industry so hard but not the prices all you are doing is making a huge monopolistic market that smaller companies can't get into because of huge cash barriers.

What insurance also doesn’t understand is there is a difference between insulin lispro and insulin apart. And they don’t understand if you cant take certain kinds for insulin in pumps or in general. Insurance companies are now created a formulated drug system where if you cant have there formulary drug, they give you the option to get the only one you can take but pay 100% of the costs.

One issue is transparency. The producers don't have to disclose how much it costs to produce and how they determine their prices. It's ridiculous.

Well here in Pakistan, it is around $1.50. I can’t believe what diabetic people in USA go through...

We order ours from overseas. The shipping is free and it costs $30!

It’s only expensive in the US and you can thank the government for that, you’ll probably find that members of Congress have financial interests in the companies involved and that’s why they keep the prices high. The rest of the world isn’t affected by this problem it’s unique to the US.

Insulin pharma: I saved your life, now I own your life.

So insulin is free in the U.K. for patients as all diabetics are entitled to free prescriptions. The same companies that hold American diabetics at ransom only cost the NHS around £30 for 5 cartridges of insulin. As the only market for insulin is through the NHS the prices are kept low, the NHS can always say no to the drug companies if they’re too expensive.

When my family was on our way to Mexico this year, I had left my insulin in a hotel room- a very expensive loss. Luckily, I was able to buy the exact same amount, but for way less- I think we only spent $10 on four insulin pens, might have been more but it was definitely cheaper in Mexico.

Very nice video, I am using Libre14 days from past one year. I bought Blucon device few weeks back and use it with my Libre sensor. It helps me alot to monitor my glucose values without scanning the sensor. Also, the Linkblucon app gives me updates how food, exercise impacts on my glucose values.

I think it would be great if the Business insider can link to the source that you guys used to make the content for further reading.

easy, dont live in the US

Start buying it from Canada. I have several patients who get it delivered for cheaper.

In Ireland, after you’re discharged with a small price afterwards, you get signed up for the LTI (long term illness) card which is a system that let’s you get all of your supplies for free with a prescription from your doctor. Usually after being discharged, you don’t the card yet so you have to pay, and for all of my supplies they were only €20. America is broken with their healthcare system.

Sorry to hear it, but back here in india, insulin shots costs less than 10$

Because consumers dont kill enough business leaders.

Sounds like I need to start my own dark web site selling insulin from cheap sources

For monitoring diabetes, I use Freestyle Libre sensor with BluCon NightRider and able to get glucose values on my watch without the phone and without scanning the sensor.

Because what people depend on becomes expensive according to gov, while if they would not be depenedant - price of it would drop like meteorite

In India we terribly lack in research facilities and our education minister is a buffoon but I work in a govt hospital and diabetic medication is freely supplied....but seriously one starbucks venti has more sugar than we normally have in a month....so maybe control there

In Malaysia Insulin is lest then RM10(thats less then $2.50 us)

We pay taxes in the UK to cover our NHS. As a diabetic we get everything without being charged including testing strips, monitors, lancets and insulin pens. We also get annual reviews to see how we are managing our diabetes. As one myself I receive eye tests for retinopathy.

In Canada it costs about $7 a month for insulin, that's about a half hour of min wage work.

I’m type 1 and this actually made me cry because I know that if we didn’t have a health plan I should just Kms because I ain’t trying to make my mom and dad spend so much money for me being alive

3 seconds in and as a type 1 diabetic, if I hear any answer other than pharma companies are greedy as hell, I'm leaving this video pissed off. Edit: wasn't disappointed. Thank you.

Here in Indonesia we have a plant called Sulin Leafs, and Pare that could exchange insulin, so we have no worries about Diabetes.

Some diabetics are forced to use dog insulin from Walmart because it only costs $20 per vial. Absolutely disgusting.