In Health Affairs, a team at Yale University highlights the financial burden of insulin on diabetic patients in America.
According to the study, about 14 percent of insulin users in America face financial hardships as a result, previously described as catastrophic.
“Using nationally representative data from the 2017 and 2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, we examined out-of-pocket spending on insulin among people who filled at least one insulin prescription,” the authors wrote in their study.
“Among Americans who use insulin, 14.1 percent reached catastrophic spending over the course of one year, representing almost 1.2 million people.”
The authors of the study suggest the need for policy reform to reduce out-of-pocket spending on insulin products. In the past, U.S. lawmakers have touted the consideration of policy changes but the real burden of insulin prices remained understudied.
“Policy reform is needed to curb out-of-pocket spending, especially for Medicare beneficiaries and people with low incomes, who appear to be particularly vulnerable to catastrophic spending,” the authors suggested in their findings.
