I’ve taken insulin ever since I was diagnosed with childhood diabetes 52 years ago. Diabetes made me worry about lots of related things but I didn’t used to worry about the price of my insulin. But now that’s all I worry about. My prescriptions are important. They save my life. Without them, I’ll die.
For decades, my medication was affordable. A few years ago, prices started going up — a lot. We now spend over $700 a month on my medications. My family had to make difficult choices. First we cut back on expenses. Then we were forced to file for bankruptcy. We couldn’t afford where we were living, so we moved. That meant my husband had to leave his job. It was a hardship for my family, and I feel bad about that. Having to choose between medicine or my bills — that’s just morally wrong.
What gets me is that I have no idea why the costs keep going up so much! I didn’t know when it was going to happen, and I wasn’t given any advance notice about how much it would cost. I wish I’d known why and when and how much. I hope that legislators will pay attention to people like me and hold drug corporations accountable to give their customers more information.
Sue Knipmeyer
Grand Junction
