Insulin is nearly as vital to the body as water. When I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2007, a lot of people didn’t know what insulin was, only that it had something to do with diabetes. It wasn’t in the media. Part of the reason why no one was talking about it is that insulin wasn’t really a problem. If you needed insulin, you could get it fairly cheaply. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

The article, Life, Death and Insulin, by The Washington Post, explains what insulin is and why it’s so important. The author, Tiffany Stanley, explains that insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that is vital for sugar processing in the body. Stanley explains that without insulin, a person will die. She tells stories of Type 1 Diabetics who have been forced to ration their insulin or go off insulin completely due to price. A father of diabetic children said his son’s insulin costs the family over $1,000 per month. Stanley explains that the major manufacturers of insulin have nearly tripled the price of their insulin since 1996. Some have increased the price even more. Stanley uses the stories of diabetics and medical research to prove that something must be done to stop increasing insulin prices. Something that is as vital to the body as water must be affordable. Stanley states President Trump has promised to help lower insulin prices.

This issue is very close to my heart. I have had nightmares about not being able to afford insulin and then watching my limbs slowly die. Then eventually my eyes die. Finally, I am disoriented, fully blind, and unable to do anything for myself. Granted, for me this is a dream, but for others, this is their life. Like I said in my post about solutions for ending the government shutdown, I am not a political expert. However, I am a person and I am a diabetic. My first instinct is to say the government should step in. Maybe that’s what Trump is doing and maybe it will work. Even if it doesn’t, drug companies must be required to lower the price of insulin. It is cheap to make. With lives at stake, something cheap should be sold cheaply.

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