November 13, 2019

Jessica Kozlosky
Greenfield Township PA, 18407
jessie.kozlosky@gmail.com
570-677-1457

The Honorable Bob Casey

United States Senate
393 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington DC. 20510

Dear Senator Casey,

When I was eleven years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Ever since then, I
have relied on daily doses of insulin to control my blood sugars. My struggles and frustrations
with this disease also inspired me to enroll in college to study nutrition and dietetics; I am
currently a junior at Marywood University in this pursuit and hope to become a certified diabetes
educator after I graduate so I may help people with gestational, Type 1, and Type 2 Diabetes.
Insulin is an extremely expensive medication. For most of my life, I have been fortunate
enough to have insurance that covers the seven hundred dollar per month cost of my insulin.
However, many residents of the United States who have no insurance or poor insurance are not
this lucky and must pay massive medical bills each month for theirs. Often times, people who
have trouble affording their insulin will take less insulin than they should or even skip doses
entirely in order to conserve their supply. This results in poorly controlled diabetes, which causes
a number of complications such as kidney failure, blindness, strokes, and gangrene. Some people
with Type 1 Diabetes in particular, for whom insulin is required to keep them alive on a day to
day basis, have even died while attempting to ration their insulin.
This dangerous financial hardship is why I am asking you to support Senate Bill 2004, or
the Emergency Access to Insulin Act of 2019. This bill would permit insulin users with no
insurance or poor insurance to obtain insulin cards which would then allow them to receive their
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insulin prescriptions free of charge. These individuals being able to take their insulin as needed
would help reduce complications and deaths related to diabetes and greatly benefit the general
health of many United States residents. This in turn would reduce the burden of costly
treatments, such as dialysis, that are often needed by people with chronically uncontrolled
diabetes.
I hope that you will consider supporting The Emergency Access to Insulin Act of 2019 as
a gesture toward the right of people to obtain the health sustaining, and sometimes, life
sustaining insulin they need. As a member of this demographic who has felt the fear of not
knowing if I will be able to obtain and take the insulin that I need, I guarantee that I, along with
my fellow diabetics would be eternally grateful for such support.

Sincerely,

Jessica Kozlosky
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References

US SB2004 | 2019-2020 | 116th Congress​. (2019, June 27). ​LegiScan​. Retrieved

November 13, 2019, from https://legiscan.com/US/bill/SB2004/2019

US HB4010 | 2019-2020 | 116th Congress​. (2019, July 25). ​LegiScan​. Retrieved

November 13, 2019, from https://legiscan.com/US/bill/HB4010/2019