Insulin prices soar, leading people to buy less reliable medicine (Just over nine percent of Americans, more than 29 million people, have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Battling the disease and dealing with its side effects has gotten more difficult over the last six years. Anne Townley works with diabetics at Sacred Heart Hospital in Walton County. The disease doesn't just stay at the hospital when she goes home. Her husband, the father of her two sons and daughter, has been a type one diabetic for 40 years. "It is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week, 365 day a year commitment," Townley said. At the hospital, she explains to people like Linda Sortino how to get the medication at affordable prices. It makes her doubt she'll ever see a cure for the disease. "When I was young and optimistic, I would say yes," she said about the likelihood of finding a cure. "Now I would say, ' I don't know, it's a big business.'" She wants to see government action for medicine diabetics cannot live without. "I do think getting some kind of government involvement in the pricing of insulin and diabetes medicine is very important," Townley said. Insulin has seen a price hike of up to 325 percent in the last six years alone. The increases have priced some people, like Linda and her husband, who has the disease, out of the latest care. Forcing them to use older, less expensive type of medicine. "I don't think anyone realizes until you go through it, how unaffordable it is to be ill in any way," Sortello said. While they were using the newer medicine, it cost the family about $750 per year with insurance. Now with the generic medicine, which is older and less reliable, they pay about $600, with no help from the insurance company. She said even with the break on the price, managing her husband's care has made life incredibly difficult. She has to work to supplement her retirement income. "When you retire you think you are going to live a certain way, and you are not," Sortelo said. 'I'm 70 and I had to go back to work in order to afford this. I cant retire." The American Diabetes Association has a petition to regulate the price of insulin. You can read about the petition here. Source
