The only remedy for the intentionally broken US illness care system is Medicare for All. There is nothing that can be argued here. It’s just a fact. That includes sanely priced insulin and other products for treating both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and undoing the deliberate destruction of diabetes research in the US.
The opponents of M4A WANT vast numbers of Americans (and people around the world) to die of preventable and treatable diseases. Many are even will to vote against health care for THEMSELVES in order to do so. Jonathan Metzl documented this fact in Dying of Whiteness, as I have written about here, starting in 2020.
Grokking Trumpists: A New Book List
Whites with serious, even life-threatening illnesses, who vote against expanding Medicaid to help themselves because Those People would get some.
I will not recount the sorry history of Republicans trying to kill diabetics with overpriced insulin, and attempts to repeal or defund Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA. There is too much information on all of that to fit in here, much of it trivially easy to find and access.
No, we have another disaster to discuss today.
Yale School of Medicine
Insulin Rationing Persists Despite Policy Changes, Study Shows
Yale researchers have found that despite new policies addressing insulin costs, the proportion of patients who ration insulin due to cost remains unchanged.
The findings were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
For those with type 1 diabetes, insulin is necessary for survival, explains Yale School of Medicine’s Kasia Lipska, MD, MHS, the study’s corresponding author. Insulin is also essential for many individuals with type 2 diabetes, who use it to control their blood sugars. The medicine, which was discovered more than 100 years ago, should be available, accessible, and affordable for all those with diabetes, Lipska says.
“When people don’t have enough money for insulin, they may ration it, meaning they take less than is prescribed to make it last longer, or skip it altogether,” says Lipska, associate professor of medicine (endocrinology and metabolism). “This can lead to devastating consequences for people who rely on insulin to stay healthy.”
the researchers found that one in four patients at the center rationed insulin due to cost in 2024, a rate unchanged from 2017.
by M Fang · 2023 · Cited by 19 — This study uses 2021 National Health Interview Survey data to examine the prevalence of insulin rationing among adults younger than 65 years in the US by …
Apr 4, 2023 — A recent study by Michael Fang, PhD, MHS and Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH found that adults with diabetes younger than 65 were likely to ration insulin use due …
Oct 21, 2022 — Rationing insulin is dangerous because it leads to poor control of diabetes which can lead to increased complications such as kidney disease, vascular disease, …
Jan 2, 2025 — Insulin rationing was not associated with higher health care utilization, but concurrent rationing of health care may mask a relationship.
More than a million Americans ration insulin due to high …
Nov 1, 2022 — 1.3 million Americans rationed insulin due to the high costs of insulin in 2021. The staggering number represents an estimated 16.5% of the US population with …
Jan 5, 2023 — Insulin rationing is common among adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Among the 982 insulin users surveyed, 1 in 6 reported rationing insulin.
Videos
Alec passed away alone in his apartment he died from diabetic ketoacidosis from rationing his insulin it was three days short of his payday.
He managed his diabetes the best that he could. He didn’t let it control his life.
Rationing insulin can have life-threatening consequences but high prices and inadequate insurance coverage may be barriers to accessing this critical medication.
We need to keep up the pressure for M4A in order to have a chance to enact it in 2029. The haters will continue to insist on murdering our fellow sufferers. We need to call them out for it, loudly and plainly.
