Many patients struggle to pay for their insulin and some have even begun to forego treatment because they can no longer afford it, as outlined in this tragic story.

This is not only true for insulin, but for many other medications. Pharmaceutical companies are battling generic drug makers with lawsuits and patents to prevent cheaper medication alternatives off of the market. In addition, pharmacy benefit managers (e.g. Caremark) often receive incentives and rebates from the pharmaceutical companies which increases their profits instead of lowering the cost of the medication for patients.

In a nutshell, this is the formula of a sick system, contributing to the reasons that health care costs have begun to rise to unsustainable levels.

At Dr. Smith Direct Care, we are doing our part to keep health care costs as low as possible for our patients. Unfortunately, there is little we can do to help with the insulin price gouging that is going on today.