Edwin,

I completely support your stance on the inflation regarding diabetic medication. Your “Stopping the Diabetes Epidemic with Education” post is incredibly insightful and your use of current statistics portray the relevance of the diabetes epidemic today. One sentence I found particularly powerful was “This is an outrageous cost to pay for life-saving medication” because it resonates with so may other medications (contraceptives, chemotherapy, radiation, etc.) that are ridiculously overpriced but is burden many Americans must bear in order to live. My father was lucky enough to be a veteran, so his chemotherapy treatments were covered, but so many in this country are not so lucky. I remember thinking each night that, even though my father had his treatments paid for, it was unfair that there were other fathers, mothers, daughters and sons who were going through the same thing I was, but had to pay out of pocket, or not do it at all due to the outrageous cost. It’s a decision no one should have to make.

This was an excellent post and it furthered my resolve to go out into my community and do my part in stopping the spread of diet related diseases.

Dear CM,

I am sorry to hear that one of your students have diabetes and that student is fighting back to lower the costs of insulin. We are trying to help people to learn about this topic of rising costs of medication by educating the community and telling the truth about it, too! If you want to help your student and our group and the community, go to this link to sign the petition of lowering the cost of insulin https://makeinsulinaffordable.org/petition/ Thank you for your time.

Calvin, Christina, and Edwin

Dear Edwin:
I am in complete agreement with your post, “Stopping the Diabetes Epidemic with Education,” because I find that your post discusses topics that I also am in support of. One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: “ from 2016 to now prices per vial have gone up to $540 (Alltucker). The amoral companies that are profiting off the diabetic community are against making insulin cheaper because they are generating huge amounts of revenue… This is an outrageous cost to pay for life-saving medication. ” I think this is highly problematic because in the recent years insulin prices have become so overly expensive. Diabetic patients who were unable to afford insulin turn to rationing, which puts their life in great danger. I also believe that the very first step we have to take in order to change these problematic issues is by educating our society on ways to recognize the symptoms of diabetes early on, so that the spiking growth of diabetes will hopefully plummet. Another sentence that was striking for me is: “. However, in California, the price of insulin has skyrocketed recently. From 2012 to 2016; prices have gone from $35 to $234 per vial which is an increase of over 500%.” This stood out for me because insulin is a life-saving-drug. The high prices of insulin just goes to show how corrupt and greedy insulin manufacture companies are. Insulin should be something that is easily accessible and affordable for those with diabetes, since their lives depend on it. Insulin, a life saving drug that is extremely costly is basically asking money in exchange with a person’s life. Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because I am in support of what you are trying to speak out against the skyrocketing prices of insulin. In addition, you are also bringing awareness towards having to educate people on the topic of diabetes. I am concern about the same problem, you could see the same concern on my blog https://insulinforall.wordpress.com/