U.S President Donald Trump has recently announced a scheme that will work to reduce the cost of insulin, a hormone administered to diabetic patients. During the announcement, he asked if he should be taking insulin even though he is not a diabetes patient.
Trump said that he does not use insulin but should he be taking the hormone? He said that he has never given it a thought but he is aware of the fact that people usually severely affected by the disease which is shocking.
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Type 1 diabetes patients take insulin daily and sometimes, several doses in a day as their pancreas does not function properly since it is unable to produce the hormone, insulin.
People are Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic needs the hormone regularly depending upon how the body is using the hormone. Trump, however, does not have a history of either type of diabetes.
The National Diabetes Statistics Report from 2017 states that in the United States, diabetes is a prevalent condition affecting 30.3 million people. Out of this population, most of them are affected with Type 2 diabetes which is almost 90% to 95%.
People who are Type 2 diabetic do not entirely depend on the external dose of insulin. They can control their body glucose levels by controlling their diet and adapting to a healthy lifestyle. On the other hand, Type 1 diabetes patients depend on their daily doses of insulin.
A reporter asked President Trump why does he want to take insulin which he did not respond to and asked Jerome Adams, his surgeon general to answer. He told the President that his body is making enough insulin due to which he is not diabetic and does not need to take externally administered insulin. He explained that people like him can make insulin of their own and they utilize the hormone produced by their own body.
On Tuesday, President Trump said that the copay costs of the most senior recipients of Medicare will be covered under this plan. He announced that the patients will be able to access several insulin types and they will have to pay as less as $35 for the supply of a whole month thus dramatically reducing the cost of insulin.
A study suggests that the latest versions of insulin were priced triple the amount in nearly a decade starting from the year 2002 to 2013. This hormone is used regularly by around 7 million US citizens and it is an essential drug for them to live.
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The Health Care Cost Institute released data that shows that on average, $5,705 was paid by Type 1 diabetes patients for insulin in the year 2016 which is twice the amount they paid for the drug in 2012.
A survey was conducted in 2018 by UpWell Health which is a company in Salt Lake City. The company is a provider of medicines and other supplies for several chronic illnesses at home. The study suggests that the cost of insulin has risen so much during the previous years that nearly half of the diabetic patients cut down their dose of insulin or stopped taking the drug altogether for some period.