Short post on something that honestly shouldn’t be possible in a country this wealthy.

Insulin keeps millions of people with diabetes alive. But it’s been really expensive. According to CNN, about 8.4 million Americans rely on insulin, and as many as 1 in 4 patients have been unable to afford it, leading them to ration their doses, sometimes with deadly results. There’s been progress lately, with caps bringing the cost down to $35 a month for a lot of people.

The word “ration” is what gets me. People skipping or stretching a medication they need to survive, not because of medical reasons, but because of price. That’s the access problem at its most extreme. The treatment exists, it works, and people still can’t always get it. Prevention and treatment both fall apart if people can’t afford the basics.