JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Wednesday, the company Eli Lilly announced it’s cutting prices by 70% for its commonly prescribed insulin products: Humalog and Humalin, starting the fourth quarter of the year.
It also announced a $35 monthly cap on insulin products for users paying out-of-pocket.
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”I’m very excited that it’s coming from the source,” said 22-year-old Aria Todd. She currently lives with Type 1 Diabetes, which means her body does not produce insulin naturally.
”I was diagnosed when I was 7, so this May it’ll be 15 years, and thousands of thousands of dollars just on insulin alone,” she said.
And of course, she’s far from alone. The Diabetes Research Institute estimates 34.2 million people in the United States have diabetes.
”I have diabetic friends who have to choose between rent and going to the pharmacy and picking up their insulin,” Todd said. “So, it’s definitely hard.”
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Right now, a Humalog u-100 10 ml vial is $274.70. That would go down to $66.40. A Humulin u-100 10 ml vial is $148.70. That will plummet to $44.61.
Right now, Todd uses another provider for insulin, but even with insurance, “I pay about 400 dollars for three vials every two months, give or take,” she said. And that’s not counting other products she needs.
Just to give you an idea of how much Todd is paying, she also relies on products like an omni pod on her arm to administer the insulin. That’s about $100 each, and it needs to be replaced every three days.
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This announcement comes as President Joe Biden has asked lawmakers to support extending a $35 cap on out-of-pocket insulin to Medicare recipients.
But now that Eli Lilly, a major company, has decided to act, Todd hopes others will follow.
”Hopefully… we can get to a point where having diabetes isn’t such a burden, we can live like anybody else,” she said.
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