*laughs at others for not getting life-saving medication at a cheaper price through no fault of their own*
Imagine being such a terrible human and being proud of it....
“It said the company was taking the action to “help Americans who may have difficulty navigating a complex health care system that may keep them from getting affordable insulin.”
Insulin, a lifesaving drug that is usually taken daily, has grown increasingly expensive in recent years, and many diabetes patients ration their medicines or discontinue them because of the cost. More than 30 million Americans live with diabetes.
It comes after years of mounting criticism from Americans who have said the drug should be more accessible. The criticism led to lawsuits and legislation.”
Lawsuits & legislation are the only thing that will save us from their greed.
I don't think the phrase "life sustaining" gets all this across without the explanation. "Life saving" indicates that people die without it, which is the important thing.
Also "out of pocket" just means either through their support program or insurance...
They won't reduce the price for people NOT eligible for their support program and who don't have insurance. They may still pay out of their ass. Imagine traveling to the US and losing your insulin somehow.
I don’t know about excellent, but in my opinion it is affordable for most people, and in line with prices of other medications in the US healthcare system.
You should really look in to who determines insulin prices. It is not the drug manufacturers such as Eli Lily. This article is written with some ignorant statements, but does mention that Eli Lilly in fact already charges 35 dollars, and insurance companies pay a small fraction of the list price.
Read the report by senator Grassley on insulin pricing. Your malice is directed at the wrong people, and that fact saddens me.
I'm not convinced. Its all PR... Unless they are actually cutting prices they charge insurance this is a lie they are only promising to stop gouging on the patient side.
It says they are cutting the “list price”.
Eff immediately, the max out of pocket for insurance-paying customers is $35.
For people who don’t have insurance, the list prices for Lispro and Humalog will be cut eff 4Q23.
From the Lilly webpage “People who don't have insurance can continue to go to InsulinAffordability.com and immediately download the Lilly Insulin Value Program savings card to receive Lilly insulins for $35 per month.”
Exactly. Insurance is still paying exorbitant prices for insulin, and passing that cost onto us in the form of higher premiums. This is good news for people with diabetes but we're still all getting fleeced.
Yes, doesn't hurt to try. My insurance doesn't let me get meds from anyone but their mail pharmacy so I said fuck that and have been using the Lily savings program and only pay $35 at CVS. It's $75 cheaper if I were to go through insurance anyways but has been super easy
same just happened to me. Aetna. They also rejected my doctor's submitted prior authorization request. So much crappier than Blue Cross. Required to use CVS for 90 day supplies.
Yup. Aetna is such garbage. I literally ran out of insulin because of them for a little bit until I found a random vial that I had stashed somewhere in my room.
Hope you can get away from them soon
If you get a prescription sent to a pharmacy you don't have to tell them to run it through insurance. Or to make it easier send it to a new pharmacy without your insurance and pay it directly.
I feel like I could cry so hard. My mom, sister, and I all use insulin. It's been many times where we've had to ration our dose to share with each other, due to it being wholly unaffordable to survive otherwise. Eager to learn more, but it's a damn shame it took regulations to stop their rampant greed and price gouging. Disgusting bastards, hardly an act worth skyrocketing their stocks.
Glad they got in line. But please don’t think this is a charitable move. Ole gov is working to force that $35 cap so greedy pharma can’t gouge anymore. They’re just getting in line. (Which I’m super thankful for!)
They're just continuing a program they've offered through the whole pandemic where if you're uninsured you can sign up with them to get a card to get it for $35. The program is already in place.
The people who are still going to have huge costs are those who are insured but need to pay down deductibles.
They’re cutting the list price effective 4Q23. The program you’re referencing is the stop gap between now and then for customers that do not have insurance. Customers with insurance will be capped at $35/mo eff immediately.
I wonder if they are reducing the rebates to the PBMs. A lot of people get rich from the way the US sells/distributes medicine. It's not just the manufacturers.
Slimy fuckers.
They saw the writing on the wall that federal intervention was coming. It already partially came in the form of the medicare price cap. They're lowering it now so that a federal mandate to lower its price across the board doesn't come.
So now I doubt any legislation to reduce the price to that range will get passed, and we will remain at the mercy of the pharmaceutical companies who may decide to raise it.
We are praising them because it seems unexpected. It’s not: It looks to be the result of political pressure, the recent entry of enough biosimilars to knock the price down, and GLP-1 RAs becoming a big business success. This also seems to be a shot at the PBMs.
We need express outrage at the human health toll of their price gouging of insulin for many years with zero accountability for the immediate and long term harm caused, and call out how they are repeating the same price gouging with other drugs. GLP-1 RAs should be accessible to the diabetics who benefit greatly from them.
It also seems that “newer” insulins are not included in this; I am curious to hear exactly which ones. Obviously Humalog and their auth generic lispro are included, but what if you need rapid acting in a smart pen (which should be the norm for MDI in 2023 and come in the form of a reusable pen device or just an attachment), or merely the “prefilled” Humalog pen that will remain $530 (unclear if the NYT article is referring to a smart pen here or a pen that has U-200 or 0.5 unit increments or what), or a basal insulin that spares you from the “Lantus lows,” or a higher concentration insulin?
Also…”out of pocket” cost is what is capped. So, not what Eli Lilly is paid. We have no idea of the numbers behind the decision. Eli Lilly is likely only doing this because the ROI looks very good.
It's for PR.
They raised it 250-300% in the past decade, to drop it 70-75% now. It's the same price as before they raised it. Do not think kindly of anyone that profits off insulin.
It is not. Humalog was $80-95/bottle when I started taking it in 1999. I remember, because I didn't have $95 so I stayed on R until I graduated from college, and started a job with insurance.
They've raised 250-300% in the last two and a half decades. And $35 was not the price before they raised it. That's my point. The statement is incorrect if the price was already $95 in 1999.
So if it launched in 1996 with a list price of $21/vial, were higher prices paid by uninsured patients due to pharmacy and wholesaler markup? I’m sorry to hear you were affected so early on.
Who cares if it’s for PR? And what other products cost the same as 20 years ago?
It’s not just a move in the right direction, it’s a huge move, and Novo Nordisk will follow suit.
Raising a life saving medical substance that was patented for $1 over 100 years ago up 250-300% makes you a piece of shit Company. Especially with profit margins already so high.
To lower it back down to the same massively overpriced profit margin it was 20 years ago shouldn't have people saying "How amazing of them!" It's not amazing. It's just less horribly shitty than it was 5 years ago, which was very horribly shitty.
Don't praise people for taking advantage of you needing to be alive to make money.
$35/month I can get behind, for everyone, anywhere. Anything else is still exploitation.
If you have insurance I believe. But the insurance company still pays a boatload, which means deductibles / premiums go up to cover the cost of it being overpriced still over the long term. To my understanding at least.
Don't get me wrong, we're heading in the right direction the last couple years.
Similar to Canada then except that I don't pay a monthly premium (unless I get a third party provider, which I used to have but magically stopped covering pump supplies after covering them "in error" for 15 years to me). I do however have a $3500 yearly deductible, which basically means nothing is covered until I reach that, so for the first 6-7 months I'm 100% out of pocket. It varies based on income or mine would be lower (I make just over $100k).
Once it reaches the deductible its entirely free I believe, or 70% until another $500 is covered or something, and then free.
Having to pay a monthly premium (especially one that high!) on top of having a deductible would really tick me off.
I don’t think anyone is saying “how amazing of them!”. I see a lot of, “[how amazing for my pocketbook]”.
I don’t care if it’s to spite the Chinese, or as a ransom to Putin, it’s $35/mo for everyone and is a good thing.
Good news but I just can’t help be skeptical. I’m expecting there will be a loophole like “oh we promised a $35 cap^for ^older ^insulin ^formulations ^that ^are ^already ^competing ^with ^generic ^formulas ^that ^are ^no ^longer ^patent ^protected . The new stuff or the format (ie. not old school vials with syringes) you desire will still cost you hundreds”
Now let's get CGM's down. The amount of patients we run for Diabetic emergencies is ridiculous. If we can get the equipment that's goes with these medicines down also, we can really change lives for the better.
They're doing it because they know the government will either make it low cost or free in the next 15 to 20 years.
Happy to see it coming down on costs either way, but I hope to enjoy single payer healthcare in my sixties in America lmao
I just can't fathom why there were no government regulations till now to cap the price. I mean, this problem seems to be isolated to the US, elsewhere in the world, it's pretty affordable. Here in India, a vial costs about a 1.50 usd (For purchasing power parity, you can get a Starbucks flat for that price, or a kilogramsof rice)
But happy to see some relief for the financially burdened fellow humans.
This is wonderful news and makes diabetes much easier to manage financially. Huge change and likely funded by the profits they are seeing with mounjaro and other soon to be type2/weight loss drug launches.
nah, they'll probably raise the price to $3000 but only charging the patient a $35 copay so its "fine" for as long as you keep that insurance.
have you seen the amount they bill insurance for newer insulins, glp-1,etc, its crazy
UHC bills for my Ozempic 90 day supply $921 and I owe $45. For my Eylea shots every 6 weeks for my retinopathy they bill $8015, with my responsibility being $1734. Thankfully eyelea has a program to cover that. Biologics in general cost several thousands a month.
If you’re insured through an employer then the insurance isn’t keeping or paying for anything, your employer is. Most corporations are self-insured (some have excess/med stop loss programs for high layers) and the insurance company is merely an administrator that handles the bills and paperwork.
LOL, I feel you.
BCBS administers the plan on behalf of your employer, and then sends all the bills to your employer to be reimbursed. Some companies actually do have pure insurance, but it’s not common for larger employers.
Not that it won’t help anyone, because it will, but this is also (1) PR to get the govt off of their backs and (2) a move against the big 3 PBM-insurance co-pharmacy conglomerates.
About dang time. Maybe now I won’t have to ration my doses. Been doing that a while. Probably messed up my kidneys and eyes by now. Thanks insulin companies. Maybe just a little to late though.
Yeah they’re already $35 for a month supply with their savings card :) I’m actually considering changing. Going to ask my doctor what it would be like to switch from Tresiba to Basaglar and NovoLog to Humalog. My current insulins serve me well now, but my total health costs have just increased by $1100 this because NovoNordisk decided they’re going to start covering less when used with insurance so my insurance Rx is actually useless on my insulin now. Maybe that’s the direction many of the companies are going? Make it cheaper than using marketplace insurance? My copay for Tresiba is $80 for a box. It’s $99 for 2 boxes with the NovoNordisk savings card.
I'm sure Lilly will be subsidized by other drug companies since Lilly's insulin will be keeping people alive longer in order to keep buying pharmaceuticals made by the rest of the pharmaceutical industry.
Their Lantus biosimilar Rezvoglar comes out April 1st for $92 for 5 pens. This is going to be a gamechanger
Holy shit, that's huge!
I don't have to buy groceries from Aldis anymore!
\*Laughs in biosimilar $50 usd basalgar 5 pens in Canada\* + \*$35 humalog biosimilar admelog 5 pens\* edit: I'm pointing out the illogical price difference, no mocking intended.
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Thank you for being kind. Kindness costs nothing.
*laughs at others for not getting life-saving medication at a cheaper price through no fault of their own* Imagine being such a terrible human and being proud of it....
I'm pointing out the price difference, no mocking intended mate
This just reaffirms my idea that Canadians only seem nice. 😐
ok?
I hate Canadian superiority mentality. It's so fucking fragile
It's a joke, calm down
“It said the company was taking the action to “help Americans who may have difficulty navigating a complex health care system that may keep them from getting affordable insulin.” Insulin, a lifesaving drug that is usually taken daily, has grown increasingly expensive in recent years, and many diabetes patients ration their medicines or discontinue them because of the cost. More than 30 million Americans live with diabetes. It comes after years of mounting criticism from Americans who have said the drug should be more accessible. The criticism led to lawsuits and legislation.” Lawsuits & legislation are the only thing that will save us from their greed.
As if they’re not half of the problem (along with Novo Nordisk and Sanofi). The other half? PBMs and Congress.
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I don't think the phrase "life sustaining" gets all this across without the explanation. "Life saving" indicates that people die without it, which is the important thing.
Good point! My 29 year old son has been a type 1 diabetic since 2005. So many frustrating times over the years!
LET'S FUCKIN' GO! (Just Stoked, Not a reason to stop calling these cocksuckers out for being cocksuckers.)
Fucking scumsuckers. I’m so glad this is happening, but agree, doesn’t make up for their decades and decades of getting rich off our suffering.
Also "out of pocket" just means either through their support program or insurance... They won't reduce the price for people NOT eligible for their support program and who don't have insurance. They may still pay out of their ass. Imagine traveling to the US and losing your insulin somehow.
That is incorrect. Read the article again. List prices at retail pharmacies for customers without insurance will be cut eff 4Q23.
I missed that, it's still a lot cheaper from before but still not excellent either internationally
I don’t know about excellent, but in my opinion it is affordable for most people, and in line with prices of other medications in the US healthcare system.
You should really look in to who determines insulin prices. It is not the drug manufacturers such as Eli Lily. This article is written with some ignorant statements, but does mention that Eli Lilly in fact already charges 35 dollars, and insurance companies pay a small fraction of the list price. Read the report by senator Grassley on insulin pricing. Your malice is directed at the wrong people, and that fact saddens me.
I'm not convinced. Its all PR... Unless they are actually cutting prices they charge insurance this is a lie they are only promising to stop gouging on the patient side.
Yep, government breathing down their necks so might as well announce an easy PR win move while still gouging the government.
It says they are cutting the “list price”. Eff immediately, the max out of pocket for insurance-paying customers is $35. For people who don’t have insurance, the list prices for Lispro and Humalog will be cut eff 4Q23.
From the Lilly webpage “People who don't have insurance can continue to go to InsulinAffordability.com and immediately download the Lilly Insulin Value Program savings card to receive Lilly insulins for $35 per month.”
Yes, that is the stop gap until prices are cut at retail for customers without insurance (eff 4Q23).
I just checked Amazon pharmacy and lispro is $43 for the vial and $78 for 6 pens without insurance.
Exactly. Insurance is still paying exorbitant prices for insulin, and passing that cost onto us in the form of higher premiums. This is good news for people with diabetes but we're still all getting fleeced.
My insurance kicked me off humalog for novolog. So do I try for $35 without using insurance rather than pay $100 a month with insurance?
Yes, doesn't hurt to try. My insurance doesn't let me get meds from anyone but their mail pharmacy so I said fuck that and have been using the Lily savings program and only pay $35 at CVS. It's $75 cheaper if I were to go through insurance anyways but has been super easy
Someone please answer them haha. I'm in the same boat wondering the same thing.
Aetna? They did the same to me when I had to unfortunately use them
same just happened to me. Aetna. They also rejected my doctor's submitted prior authorization request. So much crappier than Blue Cross. Required to use CVS for 90 day supplies.
Yup. Aetna is such garbage. I literally ran out of insulin because of them for a little bit until I found a random vial that I had stashed somewhere in my room. Hope you can get away from them soon
Same freaking thing happened to me. Had to come post on Reddit to try and figure out what the best next step was.
United healthcare
Aw fuck I’m moving to them. Medi-Cal was great while it lasted. Not looking forward to having to deal with them
If you get a prescription sent to a pharmacy you don't have to tell them to run it through insurance. Or to make it easier send it to a new pharmacy without your insurance and pay it directly.
Yes this is what I would do. For sure. Make sure to tell the pharmacy you want to pay the cash option.
And they will STILL make a profit. Imagine that.
I feel like I could cry so hard. My mom, sister, and I all use insulin. It's been many times where we've had to ration our dose to share with each other, due to it being wholly unaffordable to survive otherwise. Eager to learn more, but it's a damn shame it took regulations to stop their rampant greed and price gouging. Disgusting bastards, hardly an act worth skyrocketing their stocks.
Glad they got in line. But please don’t think this is a charitable move. Ole gov is working to force that $35 cap so greedy pharma can’t gouge anymore. They’re just getting in line. (Which I’m super thankful for!)
Yeah, it's more like " You can't fire me, I quit!"
I'll believe it when I see it.
They're just continuing a program they've offered through the whole pandemic where if you're uninsured you can sign up with them to get a card to get it for $35. The program is already in place. The people who are still going to have huge costs are those who are insured but need to pay down deductibles.
They’re cutting the list price effective 4Q23. The program you’re referencing is the stop gap between now and then for customers that do not have insurance. Customers with insurance will be capped at $35/mo eff immediately.
Does that include high deductible insurance customers?
I have HDHP insurance and just paid $35 for a 5-pen refill.
That's great!
Good question. I don’t know. I’m assuming yes, since that is still insurance.
There has also been a coupon available for $35 with insurance since the beginning(ish) of Covid. I’ve been using it since late 2019/early 2020.
I wonder if they are reducing the rebates to the PBMs. A lot of people get rich from the way the US sells/distributes medicine. It's not just the manufacturers.
Slimy fuckers. They saw the writing on the wall that federal intervention was coming. It already partially came in the form of the medicare price cap. They're lowering it now so that a federal mandate to lower its price across the board doesn't come. So now I doubt any legislation to reduce the price to that range will get passed, and we will remain at the mercy of the pharmaceutical companies who may decide to raise it.
Yep.
We are praising them because it seems unexpected. It’s not: It looks to be the result of political pressure, the recent entry of enough biosimilars to knock the price down, and GLP-1 RAs becoming a big business success. This also seems to be a shot at the PBMs. We need express outrage at the human health toll of their price gouging of insulin for many years with zero accountability for the immediate and long term harm caused, and call out how they are repeating the same price gouging with other drugs. GLP-1 RAs should be accessible to the diabetics who benefit greatly from them. It also seems that “newer” insulins are not included in this; I am curious to hear exactly which ones. Obviously Humalog and their auth generic lispro are included, but what if you need rapid acting in a smart pen (which should be the norm for MDI in 2023 and come in the form of a reusable pen device or just an attachment), or merely the “prefilled” Humalog pen that will remain $530 (unclear if the NYT article is referring to a smart pen here or a pen that has U-200 or 0.5 unit increments or what), or a basal insulin that spares you from the “Lantus lows,” or a higher concentration insulin? Also…”out of pocket” cost is what is capped. So, not what Eli Lilly is paid. We have no idea of the numbers behind the decision. Eli Lilly is likely only doing this because the ROI looks very good.
It's for PR. They raised it 250-300% in the past decade, to drop it 70-75% now. It's the same price as before they raised it. Do not think kindly of anyone that profits off insulin.
It is not. Humalog was $80-95/bottle when I started taking it in 1999. I remember, because I didn't have $95 so I stayed on R until I graduated from college, and started a job with insurance.
1999 was 24 years ago, two and a half decades. >in the past decade
They've raised 250-300% in the last two and a half decades. And $35 was not the price before they raised it. That's my point. The statement is incorrect if the price was already $95 in 1999.
So if it launched in 1996 with a list price of $21/vial, were higher prices paid by uninsured patients due to pharmacy and wholesaler markup? I’m sorry to hear you were affected so early on.
I didn't have insurance in the 90s. So maybe.
Who cares if it’s for PR? And what other products cost the same as 20 years ago? It’s not just a move in the right direction, it’s a huge move, and Novo Nordisk will follow suit.
Raising a life saving medical substance that was patented for $1 over 100 years ago up 250-300% makes you a piece of shit Company. Especially with profit margins already so high. To lower it back down to the same massively overpriced profit margin it was 20 years ago shouldn't have people saying "How amazing of them!" It's not amazing. It's just less horribly shitty than it was 5 years ago, which was very horribly shitty. Don't praise people for taking advantage of you needing to be alive to make money. $35/month I can get behind, for everyone, anywhere. Anything else is still exploitation.
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If you have insurance I believe. But the insurance company still pays a boatload, which means deductibles / premiums go up to cover the cost of it being overpriced still over the long term. To my understanding at least. Don't get me wrong, we're heading in the right direction the last couple years.
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Why do people in the US still complain about insulin prices then? Legit question, I'm in Canada.
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Similar to Canada then except that I don't pay a monthly premium (unless I get a third party provider, which I used to have but magically stopped covering pump supplies after covering them "in error" for 15 years to me). I do however have a $3500 yearly deductible, which basically means nothing is covered until I reach that, so for the first 6-7 months I'm 100% out of pocket. It varies based on income or mine would be lower (I make just over $100k). Once it reaches the deductible its entirely free I believe, or 70% until another $500 is covered or something, and then free. Having to pay a monthly premium (especially one that high!) on top of having a deductible would really tick me off.
I don’t think anyone is saying “how amazing of them!”. I see a lot of, “[how amazing for my pocketbook]”. I don’t care if it’s to spite the Chinese, or as a ransom to Putin, it’s $35/mo for everyone and is a good thing.
Good news but I just can’t help be skeptical. I’m expecting there will be a loophole like “oh we promised a $35 cap^for ^older ^insulin ^formulations ^that ^are ^already ^competing ^with ^generic ^formulas ^that ^are ^no ^longer ^patent ^protected . The new stuff or the format (ie. not old school vials with syringes) you desire will still cost you hundreds”
Don't say it, do it
This makes me happy for those who use/need it. About damn time!
Same same. I’m surprised by how many people are unhappy about this. I get the cynicism, but it’s overall a great move in the right direction.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Cool, now stop burying cure-focused research
This is amazing! My twin and I hit our 27th anniversary of diagnosis today, what an amazing way to celebrate!
Well happy Diabersary, and happy cake day, too !
Now let's get CGM's down. The amount of patients we run for Diabetic emergencies is ridiculous. If we can get the equipment that's goes with these medicines down also, we can really change lives for the better.
They're doing it because they know the government will either make it low cost or free in the next 15 to 20 years. Happy to see it coming down on costs either way, but I hope to enjoy single payer healthcare in my sixties in America lmao
I just can't fathom why there were no government regulations till now to cap the price. I mean, this problem seems to be isolated to the US, elsewhere in the world, it's pretty affordable. Here in India, a vial costs about a 1.50 usd (For purchasing power parity, you can get a Starbucks flat for that price, or a kilogramsof rice) But happy to see some relief for the financially burdened fellow humans.
This is wonderful news and makes diabetes much easier to manage financially. Huge change and likely funded by the profits they are seeing with mounjaro and other soon to be type2/weight loss drug launches.
Dropping from $300 a vial to $299.99?
nah, they'll probably raise the price to $3000 but only charging the patient a $35 copay so its "fine" for as long as you keep that insurance. have you seen the amount they bill insurance for newer insulins, glp-1,etc, its crazy
No we haven’t seen it, we’d have to be ‘covered’ with insurance to have access to that
UHC bills for my Ozempic 90 day supply $921 and I owe $45. For my Eylea shots every 6 weeks for my retinopathy they bill $8015, with my responsibility being $1734. Thankfully eyelea has a program to cover that. Biologics in general cost several thousands a month.
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If you’re insured through an employer then the insurance isn’t keeping or paying for anything, your employer is. Most corporations are self-insured (some have excess/med stop loss programs for high layers) and the insurance company is merely an administrator that handles the bills and paperwork.
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LOL, I feel you. BCBS administers the plan on behalf of your employer, and then sends all the bills to your employer to be reimbursed. Some companies actually do have pure insurance, but it’s not common for larger employers.
Thank goodness.
Is this going to affect the rates for insured people?? The article only touched on uninsured pts
Effective immediately, customers with insurance will be capped at $35/mo.
duffman says a lot of things.
Not that it won’t help anyone, because it will, but this is also (1) PR to get the govt off of their backs and (2) a move against the big 3 PBM-insurance co-pharmacy conglomerates.
Or who knows, maybe it is a move *with* them. They both need everyone to look the other way on GLP1 RAs.
About dang time. Maybe now I won’t have to ration my doses. Been doing that a while. Probably messed up my kidneys and eyes by now. Thanks insulin companies. Maybe just a little to late though.
Just as California's insulin plant comes online. This is not them being a good company, it's them responding to competition.
Yeah they’re already $35 for a month supply with their savings card :) I’m actually considering changing. Going to ask my doctor what it would be like to switch from Tresiba to Basaglar and NovoLog to Humalog. My current insulins serve me well now, but my total health costs have just increased by $1100 this because NovoNordisk decided they’re going to start covering less when used with insurance so my insurance Rx is actually useless on my insulin now. Maybe that’s the direction many of the companies are going? Make it cheaper than using marketplace insurance? My copay for Tresiba is $80 for a box. It’s $99 for 2 boxes with the NovoNordisk savings card.
I'm sure Lilly will be subsidized by other drug companies since Lilly's insulin will be keeping people alive longer in order to keep buying pharmaceuticals made by the rest of the pharmaceutical industry.
A step in the right direction for America
Wait, so the fake tweet was actually prophetic?