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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWest Virginians head to Canada to find affordable insulin
A group of West Virginians left the country Sunday in search of affordable insulin - they went to Canada, where insulin prices are reported to be about a tenth of what it costs people in the United States.
Across the border, no prescription is even necessary to purchase the life-saving medication, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. State data says about 15% of West Virginians rely on insulin. The nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute says insulin cost a person with Type 1 diabetes about $6,000 in 2016, and prices have only increased since then, making it difficult for even insured people to afford it.
"Insulin isn't something you can go without, or skip when you can't afford it," said Tammy Owen, a volunteer with the West Virginia Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and whose son lives with Type 1 diabetes. "For someone with diabetes, it's like air. Like water. It's a basic need, and there are barriers in place that make it inaccessible for many."
The trip from Morgantown was organized by state health care activists and supported by delegates Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, and Jordan Hill, R-Nicholas. Fleischauer said their caravan has held news conferences around the state, where they've heard about ever-increasing copays for insulin prescriptions.
"It is really shocking how much some people, especially Type 1 diabetics, are having to pay for life-saving medicine. I do not use the word shocking often, but hearing these personal stories has really affected me," Fleischauer said in an email.
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-health-news/west-virginians-head-to-canada-to-find-affordable-insulin/5574000/?cat=605
Bengus81
(6,931 posts)Blues Heron
(5,932 posts)will their children be separated from them at the Canadian border?
Response to left-of-center2012 (Original post)
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mercuryblues
(14,531 posts)She supports our shit hole president and his separation policies at the border.
But lets phrase this another way. Our shit hole president separates babies from their families crossing the border into the US, for a better life. Yet our own citizens are freely going into Canada for better healthcare. While #MoscowMitch refuses to bring bipartisan legislation to control pharmaceutical prices that passed in the house to the Senate floor for a vote. I also won't mention the republicans trying to dismantle what we have left of the ACA.