Republicans Deny Affordable Insulin To Millions

These two paragraphs are from The Washington Post.

Millions of Americans have Type I Diabetes. For them, insulin is a life-saving drug. But the greedy drug companies have raised the price of insulin many times over the years -- and that price is so high that many cannot afford the needed drug.

Some are trying to ration the bit of insulin they are able to buy -- taking less than the prescribed amount of skipping shots. They hope to make the drug go further. But this is putting their medical condition in jeopardy. And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say some are dying by doing this.

But what choice do they have. The drug companies are not going to lower the price unless they are forced to do it. To them, profits are more important than the lives or health of American citizens. It's greed gone crazy, and it's dangerous.

Democrats in the Senate tried to fix this last weekend. They included a $35 cap on insulin in the Inflation Reduction Act. That would make insulin more affordable to all those who need it. Unfortunately, the Senate Republicans agree with Big Pharma that profits are more important than lives. Using an arcane Senate rule, they stripped the $35 cap on insulin out of the bill -- and then voted down a Democratic effort to put it back in the bill.

The cap remains for those on Medicare. But millions of Americans are not old enough to be on Medicare. They still need the insulin though, and they will still have to pay the outrageous price demanded by the drug companies -- if they can afford it. If they cannot afford it, they could die quickly, or die more slowly by trying to ration the amount they could afford.

Republicans have once again shown that they don't care about Americans -- unless they are rich white men.