MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Between 2012 and 2016 the cost of insulin nearly doubled, during the same period the cost of Humira has gone from $1,940 to $4,338 and the story continues as the cost of 36 other popular prescription drugs have increased more than 50-percent.
Democrat Delegate from Monongalia County Barbara Fleischauer and Adrian Olmstead from West Virginia Insulin For All were on Talkline this morning and told Hoppy Kercheval they are organizing a bus trip to Canada so local consumers can take advantage of much cheaper prescription drugs.
Specifically, this trip is organized primarily for people who need insulin.
“We’re going to Niagara Falls, it’s under five hours,” Fleischauer said, “We’re going to leave from Morgantown. We have people from different parts of the state and Virginia that are going to join us. We’re going up and back in a day and we’re going to let people get their insulin up there where its much, much cheaper.”
Adrian Olstead was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (insulin dependent Diabetes)in 1985 and is dependent on insulin.
Olmstead said,”I am insulin dependent, insulin is as necessary for me as oxygen for any human.”
Olmstead over the 33 years she has had the disease the cost of insulin has steadily gone up.
Olmstead said,”In the last 20 years it’s gotten out of control, in fact from 2001 to 2018 the price of Humalog insulin, which is the fast-acting insulin that most diabetic people take has increased 582 percent.”
Fleischauer and Olmstead believe the price has skyrocketed because only three companies manufacture the drug.
Fleischauer added that the person who invented insulin was committed to selling the drug for one dollar, because no one should make money on a life-saving drug.
Fleischauer says she is working with Jordan Hill, Chair of the House Health and Human Resources Committee, to pass legislation that would limit the co-pay for insulin. It’s modeled after the Colorado law that limits the co-pay to $50. Fleischauer also says she has co-sponsored legislation to allow pharmacies to fill emergency prescriptions for life-saving medicine (sometimes called Kevin’s law) after Kevin Houdeshell, who died after a pharmacy would not fill his expired insulin prescription on New Year’s Eve.
The trip is planned for December 8, travelers will need a passport and that can up to six weeks to get. Passport cards cost $65 each, regular passports are $165 and for optional expidited service there is a $60 fee.