Katie Garagnon 6th Period 2/15/19

“Insulin’s High Cost Leads to Lethal Rationing”: September 1, 2018

This concerning article addresses a nationwide issue that is becoming more and more
prevalent as time passes: rising insulin prices. Many people have died from a condition called
diabetic ketoacidosis, in which your blood becomes highly acidic as a result from ketones due to
skyrocketing blood sugar levels that cause your body to burn fat too rapidly. Diabetic
ketoacidosis occurs when your body isn’t receiving adequate amounts of insulin, which is
happening more and more often in patients with diabetes who can not afford their medication.
One particular story comes from a mother, Nicole Smith-Holt, whose son died waiting for his
next paycheck, which he would have gotten just three days later. According to his mother, he had
been rationing his insulin because he couldn’t afford to keep up with more insulin and new
payments. The article describes this catastrophe, “"It shouldn't have happened," Smith-Holt says
looking at her son's death certificate on her dining room table in Richfield, Minn. "That cause of
death of diabetic ketoacidosis should have never happened” (Sable-Smith). Evidently, this issue
of rising insulin prices has not only killed diabetic patients, but devastated multitudes of families.
In fact, “the price of insulin in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2012” (Sable-Smith). These
prices have caused many to ration what insulin they have left, which is dangerous and
jeopardizes their health.
This article correlates directly to my project topic of the different types of diabetes and
my product covering diabetic ketoacidosis through the connection between diabetes and the
possibility of a patient going into DKA. In this case, Alec, the mother’s diabetic son, had been
living with diabetes and began rationing his insulin because it became too expensive for him
personally. This rationing proved detrimental to this health and resulted in this death at such a
young age. Diabetic ketoacidosis was the culprit. Because his body was not receiving enough
insulin that it needed, his body began burning fat, producing hazardous amounts of ketones and
resulting in blood that was far too acidic. This is actually a fairly common occurrence as
portrayed in the article, “1 in 4 people with diabetes admits to having done it” (Sable-Smith).
The danger and potential for adversity in diabetic patients is already high and adding the habit of
rationing to meet basic survival needs only fuels that fire and almost guarantees that the patient
will develop diabetic ketoacidosis. This, in turn, almost guarantees coma or even death, if not
treated immediately and properly.
While reading and interpreting this article, I was dumbfounded and astounded at what has
been happening to many diabetic patients nationwide. It was disheartening to find out that a
quarter of diabetic patients in the U.S. have admitted to rationing their insulin. I knew that many
people often had trouble affording health care and medications, but I did not realize the extent to
which that was happening. People have been dying because of something they had no control
over and they died trying to survive off of what little insulin they had. They believed they were
doing what they could to help themselves make it, but alas it was not enough. This article made
me wonder, why exactly have insulin prices skyrocketed so much over such a short amount of
time? Is anything being done to lower the costs to help people before they end up like Alec? If
so, what is being done to prevent these unnecessary, preventable casualties?
 Work Cited

Sable-Smith, Bram. “Insulin's High Cost Leads To Lethal Rationing.” NPR, NPR, 1 Sept. 2018,

www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/01/641615877/insulins-high-cost-leads-to-

lethal-rationing.