30 million American diabetics struggle to pay for the skyrocketing price of insulin.
Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi make a killing from raising insulin prices. (Pun intended). Follow the blood money that Big Pharma pays Republicans to block measure to reduce the cost of insulin with this PowerMap that shows:
- How many diabetics and people without health insurance there per county.
- Average insulin price: $280/vial
- How Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi control the $22 billion U.S. insulin market
- Multi-million CEO salaries for insulin drug maker CEOs
- How drug barons spend $29 billion on political donations through PhRMA drug association
- Pharmaceuticals/Health Products lobbying expense in 2021 : $353,940,426
- Which Republicans got the most donations from PhRMA in 2020
- How John Robert's opened the floodgates to dark money in politics with Citizens United
- How to contact Senators to demand they support the new bill to limit insulin to $30/month
- How Reclaim Democracy fights for fair voting rights to lower the cost of drugs
What is blood money? Money obtained at the cost of another's life. - Merriam Webster Dictionary
Follow the insulin blood money
Insulin price gouging
"Insulin pricing has skyrocketed, and a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical business has formed out of its flame, with a cloud of smoke choking out the rest of the market. Since there is no alternative, millions of people depend on insulin. But high prices are pricing out customers, leaving many to fear they may not have it when they really need it.
Unfortunately, the medication in the scorpion death grip of the three companies that hold the market, and they are the only ones with the power to lower the prices. Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi control almost the entire $22B insulin market. Novo’s per-vial list prices top $289, while Sanofi rounds out the bottom at $270. People with insurance don’t pay full price out of pocket, but uninsured patients or people with high premiums (whose lives also depend on it, mind you) definitely feel the rash of the exorbitant pricing." The Hustle
Skyrocketing insulin prices
- House Passes Bill to Limit Cost of Insulin to $35 a Month - NY Times
- Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America political donations - Open Secrets
- Drug firms valuations and CEO salaries - Yahoo Finance
- The outrage over insulin prices - Axios
- Mosquitos of Wall Street - The Hustle
- House votes to cap cost of insulin at $35 - ABC News
Reclaim Democracy
Reclaim Democracy! works toward a more democratic republic, where citizens play an active role in shaping our communities, states, and nation. It believes a person’s influence should be based on the quality of their ideas, skills, and energy, and not based on wealth, race, gender, or orientation.
Citizens United, the PAC, was founded in 1988 by Floyd Brown, a political consultant, with major funding from the Koch brothers. John Robert's Supreme Court Justices ruled 5-4 to remove restrictions on “independent” political spending by corporations. A decade of data shows that the candidate who has more money, wins more often.
Citizens United lets corporations build power over our political process
This power comes at the expense of citizens. Corporations get the same Constitutional protections as individuals and use these protections to claim the “right” to lie to the public and to influence elections. Unlimited political spending allows ideas to dominate not by how good they are, but by their supporters’ ability to broadcast them. Corporations can just drown out other voices. The more money a politician needs to compete for office, the more she must court the wealthy, leaving less time to govern and less contact with average citizens. - Adapted from Reclaim Democracy
How the high price of insulin hurts your community
This map (which is also part of the larger Power Map) shows the number of people estimated to have diabetes per county and how many people in that county do not have health insurance. The map was created with ArcGIS Online with data from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
TakeAway: We taxpayers pay the salaries of Senators who take big pharma blood money and vote to keep insulin unaffordable. Give them a call and remember to vote!
Deepak
DemLabs
Cartoons licensed from Cagle Cartoons
