My name is Nancy Geiler and I am a long-time resident of Lemay, MO. My husband, Dan, and I have celebrated many healthy and happy years with our two sons and five grandchildren –– two boys and three girls. We hope to celebrate many more birthdays and holidays, but we are worried about our future due to the ever-increasing costs of our insulin.
We both have type 2 diabetes and are insulin-dependent. Dan was diagnosed 30 years ago, and I was diagnosed 10 years ago. These diagnoses have made our lives unrecognizable. Dan isn’t able to do woodworking as a hobby anymore because of his neuropathy. We have also had to worry about the constantly increasing price of our life-saving insulin. In January of 2018, we went to get our Novolog and Humalog filled and the bill was $1,800. We simply couldn’t afford it.
At this point, Dan decided he would just not take his needed insulin. No one should ever have to consider this. Dan managed to find an alternative for one of his insulins at Walmart for $60, but it’s an older version of the drug, and it’s not as safe.
I tried contacting Eli Lilly, but because we have Medicare, they wouldn’t assist us. Insurance wouldn’t cover our Lantus either, so we were forced to find an alternative. But when our doctor prescribed an alternative, we found out we wouldn’t be able to afford that insulin either.
We have also fallen into the donut hole, the nickname for the coverage gap in Medicare where patients pay a large share of their drug costs. At that time, we were spending around $400 on his and $150 on my medications.
It is now 2020 and things haven’t gotten easier. Dan is on dialysis and he has a new diabetes doctor who wants him to take Toujeo. When I went to pick it up, I found out it would be $700 for one month. We couldn’t afford it, so we were told to get Walmart insulin temporarily. Our doctor was able to get us approved for help. We have to reapply every year, so we fear for the day that we don’t get approved and have to put Toujeo on a credit card. We still get Novolin R for $25 each vial, adding up to $100 for his needed 4 vials. All of these costs add up. I don’t know a single senior who could afford it.
We worry for our future because we have been first-hand witnesses to skyrocketing insulin costs. We want to be able to enjoy our retirement and be able to be there for our children and grandchildren.
My name is David Undlin and I am a longtime resident of the Saint Paul, Minnesota area. Before I retired, I worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep for 20 years. I was happy to be able to contribute to society by selling medications that would be helpful to people. Unfortunately, times have changed since then, and it’s happened at the expense of patients like you and me.
I recently had a pulmonary embolism that caused a bit of lung damage, and so I was prescribed blood thinners by my doctor to prevent another blood clot from forming in the future. But when I went to fill my prescription, I was stunned at the cost.
Both Xarelto and Eliquis cost me around $300 for a three-month supply. That may not seem like a lot to some, but I am retired and living on a fixed income. I have to skimp on my medications or give up other necessities in order to be able to afford them.
These medications are necessary to protect my good health. I urge my lawmakers to listen to patients and work to lower drug prices for all those in this country.
In 2018, I was Ramae Harmin –– a 47-year-old single mother, long distance runner, and high school math teacher. Then I was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma. Now, for the rest of my life, I will be a cancer patient.
I took a leave of absence from my job as a teacher to undergo several surgeries, radiation, an induction chemotherapy regimen, and a stem cell transplant. My slow recovery from the transplant coupled with the intense fatigue from my daily maintenance regimen has prevented me from returning to work. I have just enough energy to take care of myself and my son.
I also have just enough money to live. For now, I receive long-term disability from my former employer and from SSDI. I am currently still on my private insurance plan through Cobra, but I will make the switch to Medicare at the end of the year. My only income is 60% of my former teaching salary and some child support that will end when my son turns 18. I also have two college-aged daughters that I help to support as well.
Other than a high yearly deductible and the monthly Cobra premiums, I have paid very little out-of-pocket for my medical treatments and medications. My maintenance drug, Revlimid, is not fully covered by my insurance plan, but I do qualify for $25 copays through my drugmaker’s assistance program. The drug maker charges my insurer between $15,000 and $25,000. My assistance will evaporate once I start on Medicare. I’m terrified.
Myeloma patients on Medicare are paying as much as $3,000 out-of-pocket per month for Revlimid and other drugs. There are grants available for some, but not all qualify. I don’t know if I will qualify or if the grant money will be there when I need it. What I do know is that I won’t be able to afford this monthly cost without selling my home and using every penny I’ve managed to save –– and even that will only last so long.
My wife Carol and I are longtime residents of Juneau, Alaska. We were born and raised on the East Coast, but we made Alaska our home after Carol moved out here to marry me. She has always been my teammate, and we have faced a great deal of hardship together.
Unfortunately, the latest hardship we’re facing is the cost of our diabetes medications. We were disheartened to find that the vials of Novolin N and Novolin R we need would cost us anywhere from $130 to $600 per month. Doctors wanted to put me on a new medication for my diabetes, and I was told it would be $2,147 for a month’s supply. I didn’t even bother to ask the doctor for the drug name; I just knew I couldn’t afford it. We have to look for coupons and discount cards in hopes that they will lower our out-of-pocket costs, but we are never certain what each month’s payment will look like.
We spend more on meds than we do on food –– and that is without buying pricey diabetes supplies. We have to get our food from food banks. The food we get isn’t always healthy, but with the cost of our prescriptions, we have to take what we can get.
When my wife and I were first diagnosed, it didn’t cost us more than $150 a month to get everything we needed to treat our diabetes. Since our diagnoses in the 1990s, the cost of our medications have nearly tripled. I just turned 70 and Carol is 64. We wish I could be enjoying retirement, but we both still work every day in our community as school bus drivers and doing our best to help the children in our neighborhood. If our medication was more affordable, our lives would change completely. There is no reason people should be getting priced out of their insulin. We are sharing our story to fight not only for ourselves, but for others as well.
My name is Patricia McKenzie and I am from Lithonia, Georgia. I love to read, go to the movies, go to church, and work in the community with my sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho. I also live with high blood pressure as well as insulin-dependent diabetes.
I am on Medicare and live off a fixed income. I am very money conscious, because I need to stretch out my budget in order to afford my medications, housing, food, and other necessities. Before I was eligible for Medicare, my insulin would have cost me $1,200 every 3 months. When I found out, I was stunned. I could not afford that.
I worked as a public health nurse for the local health department and knew many seniors who couldn’t afford their medications. At the time, I had no idea I would eventually end up in their situation –– risking my health by buying an alternative insulin rather than the one my doctor prescribed me.
Fortunately, now that I am on Medicare, I am able to afford the copays for my insulin. However, I worry with the prices continuing to rise that I will be forced, again, to make the tough decision to go on the less safe insulin. Seniors like me should not have to decide between eating and taking their drugs.
My name is Barbara Bultman, and I am a resident of Faribault, Minnesota. I’ve got a big family –– 8 kids, 19 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren. When I’m not with my family, I love to spend time with my longtime group of girl friends.
I have issues with my lungs, so my doctor wrote me a prescription for multiple inhalers. I never expected to have to worry about the cost of medicine, but it’s now something that is constantly on my mind. Trelegy Ellipta is an inhaler that has worked wonders on my breathing –– but it costs $353 out of pocket. I couldn’t afford that, so I had to borrow money from people to get the inhaler I need to breathe. The Augmentin I take on top of my inhalers is also expensive.
I ration my inhaler and it affects my health and my lungs. I know there are so many others going through this. I get scared and it causes stress, which only worsens my health. I worked in manual labor all my life, and it has taken its toll on my body. I’ve been left with osteoarthritis and scoliosis.
Life is hard when you’re sick and aging. I hope every day that I will receive help and be able to afford my medication.
My name is Deborah Withrow and I have interstitial cystitis, a chronic and painful bladder condition that has very much altered my life. My doctor worked with me to find the medication that would help me the best. Eventually, we found Elmiron, the only medication that has been effective in treating my symptoms.
Unfortunately, Elmiron costs $800 per month. The manufacturer covers it for me for 11 months out of the year, but that last month is a bank-buster all on its own. I most definitely don’t have $800 laying around, so I do my best to save in the months leading up in order to afford it. I am grateful the manufacturer is helping me out this year, but I don’t know if they will help next year. It’s scary to have to rely on that charity.
In the past, I have not received assistance, so I had to set up a GoFundMe in hopes that friends, family, and strangers would be able to help me afford the drug. I worry every day that my assistance will change and I’ll be stuck in the position I was in last year.
I am on Social Security and a fixed income, and I know that I can’t just shell out $800 on a whim. I also know that there are thousands of other seniors who wouldn’t be able to either. I am raising my voice on this issue for myself and for others who face the difficulty of affording their medications.
(SPANISH BELOW)
My name is Maria Sanchez, and I am a longtime resident of Atlanta, Georgia. I do my best to manage a number of medical conditions, including diabetes. My illnesses are stressful to me because of the havoc they wreak on my body and on my bank account.
I remember my mother always telling me she didn’t have any money in retirement, and I didn’t understand why until now. Now that I am retired and on a fixed income, I see how medical costs can add up. My insulin is constantly rising in price.
In the last six months alone, my Metformin went from $10 to $50. That is a huge and unexpected change to my budget. My Toujeo, a long-acting insulin that I need, has also increased in cost. In order to buy all of my medications, it usually costs me between$120 and $160 per month. In order to be able to pay for all of my medication I often skip out on buying my diabetic test strips. I only check my blood sugar in the morning, which can be very dangerous to my health — but it’s the only choice I have.
I have decided to share my story because I know that I’m not alone. There are countless other Georgians who are dealing with the same hardship I am enduring. My prescription costs may not seem like a lot to some, but I could use that $150 to buy healthier food for my family or visit my grandchildren more often. Instead, I constantly worry for my health.
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Mi nombre es Maria Sánchez y resido desde hace mucho tiempo en Atlanta, Georgia. Hago lo mejor que puedo para controlar una serie de condiciones médicas, incluyendo la diabetes. Mis enfermedades son muy estresantes para mi por los estragos que causan en mi cuerpo y en mi cuenta bancaria.
Recuerdo que mi madre siempre me decía que no tenía dinero en la jubilación y no entendía por qué hasta ahora. Ahora que estoy jubilada y con un ingreso fijo, veo cómo pueden sumarse los costos médicos. El precio de mi insulina aumenta constantemente.
Solo en los últimos seis meses, mi metformina pasó de $10 a $50. Eso es un gran cambio enorme e inesperado en mi presupuesto. Mi Toujeo, una insulina de acción prolongada que necesito, también ha aumentado de precio. Para poder comprar todos mis medicamentos, por lo general me cuesta entre $120 y $160 por mes. Para poder pagar todos mis medicamentos, frecuentemente dejo de comprar mis tiras reactivas para diabéticos. Solo me reviso mi nivel de azúcar en la sangre por la mañana por lo cual puede ser muy peligroso para mi salud, pero es la única opción que tengo.
He decidido compartir mi historia porque sé que no estoy sola. Hay muchos más Georgianos que se enfrentan a las mismas dificultades que yo estoy soportando. Los costos de mis medicamentos recetados tal vez no parecen mucho para algunos, pero pudiera usar esos $150 para comprar alimentos más saludables para mi familia o visitar a mis nietos con más frecuencia. En cambio, me preocupo constantemente por mi salud.