First modification:
It was Joe Biden’s project: make the cost of insulin no more than $35 a month for everyone. Congress only approved the regulation for the elderly, but the pharmaceutical Eli Lilly decided to follow the line set by the Government and reduce the price of its drugs, essential for people with diabetes.
There are 31 million people without access to health insurance in the United States, a country where this type of coverage depends largely on each person’s pocket. There are also more than 34 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, living with diabetes in the country. At the intersection of both groups are Americans who cannot afford to buy insulin, essential to treat this chronic ailment.
Eli Lilly Pharmacist decided to reduce by 70% the price of their products to “help those who have difficulties navigating the complex health system [estadounidense]which can prevent them from accessing affordable insulin.” The cost of their drugs will not exceed $35 a month, good news for those who used to spend thousands of dollars each year to get the drug.
Eli Lilly is one of three pharmaceutical companies that make insulin, along with Sanofi and Novo Nordisk. The control of the market that this gives them is responsible, in large part, for the fact that drug prices have risen more than 200% between 2007 and 2018. However, it could also mean that, as a result of the reduction in pocket costs promoted by Eli Lilly, the other two large companies are forced to imitate it in order not to lose competitiveness.
At least, this is what Biden hopes: “Who is going to maintain the old prices from now on? (…) When a large operator changes them, it changes everything, so I think we have made a lot of progress,” he declared.
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