“The price of insulin per unit has doubled between 2012 and 2016, translating to $15 per day for the average insulin user.” That is the opening line to the introduction of a recently released research study paper co-authored by researchers from the University of Utah and from the University of Colorado Department of Family Medicine (DFM).
It is the springboard into a report that lays out a troubling trend that more and more diabetics are turning to the black market to obtain the insulin and supplies they can no longer afford to buy through traditional channels.
DFM researchers, Tamara Oser, MD, Associate Professor and Director of the High Plains Research Network and Sean Oser, MD, Associate Professor, together with their colleagues, surveyed more than 150 people with diabetes or their caregivers.
The results were eye-opening. High percentages of those surveyed acknowledged obtaining their prescribed insulin and supplies to treat their conditions online, from donations from other diabetics, trading, borrowing, and purchasing from unauthorized sources.
The reason? Survey respondents say they simply cannot afford the rising costs of their treatment supplies.
Check out the full paper in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
And, browse through just a few of the examples of the widespread national media coverage that this timely and concerning report has sparked:
US News & World Report
Health Day