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GenXer

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Everything posted by GenXer

  1. GenXer

    Insulin

    The Venn diagram of universal healthcare and elimination of extortionary insulin prices isn’t a perfect circle. I’m just looking for all type 1 diabetics to be able to purchase insulin at a reasonable cost. That doesn’t seem to be too far fetched. My endocrinologist has told me some of her patients ration their insulin because of its cost. This issue is literally life or death.
  2. GenXer

    Insulin

    I looked at this and thought “hmmm.. eligibility.” Here’s what the link says To be eligible for this program you must: Be a resident of Colorado Have a current prescription for insulin Pay more than $100 for a 30-day supply for your insulin Present identification proving Colorado residency including, but not limited to, a valid Colorado identification card, driver's license or permit, or tribal-issued identification. If you are a minor under the age of 18, your parent or legal guardian must provide proof of residency. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you ensure everyone is protected. Bravo, Colorado. Well done.
  3. GenXer

    Insulin

    I must be naive. I simply don’t understand how a human functions like this.
  4. GenXer

    Insulin

    Great. Us type 1’s continue to get extorted.
  5. GenXer

    Insulin

    Where did I say it’s bad policy? Strawman argument. It’s great that the olds get insulin capped at $35 per month. Does this help the uninsured 20 year old at UT that woke up this morning to find his pancreas stopped producing insulin? Nope. I was that 20 year old a long time ago. Where did I say this will destroy the Dems in Nov? Another strawman argument. You’re on a roll. The price cap doesn’t go into effect until next year. I agree the republicans are the problem. They’ve always been the problem. For decades, they’ve actively worked against my healthcare, and I fucking hate them for it.
  6. GenXer

    Insulin

    Bernie was my guy in 2020. Like many other progressive issues, he led the messaging with insulin. I got irritated when it came down to Joe and Bernie, and the other Dems endorsed Joe. That being said, I am eternally grateful to Joe. He played an instrumental role in getting ACA passed. For diabetics, that is the most important and impactful health legislation of my lifetime. I’m also grateful to Hillary as she brought healthcare expenses to the forefront during the 90’s. But of course, the republicans killed it.
  7. GenXer

    Insulin

    I’ve considered making a “Dallas Buyers Club” for insulin. It all makes sense cause I live in Dallas. Alright alright alright.
  8. GenXer

    Insulin

    That’s the irony of this whole thing. People voting republican continually do so against their own self interest. That’s fine if they want to fuck themselves over but they don’t give a shit about the struggling 20 year old type 1 diabetic. When I worked the beto phone bank in his 2018 senate run, I would tell my story to the person the automated call connected me to. I feel like I reached a few people and made them consider the benefits of Obamacare. However, one person just said I don’t care. I just shook my head and wondered if the foxnews grooming had rooted itself so deep that critical thought was impossible or if the person was a sociopath. Amazingly enough, two weeks before the election, It appeared that Cruz’s team realized that ACA was now politically advantageous to support, and he changed his message. Cruz is a worthless piece of shit but I feel like ACA is safer now that his ilk aren’t demonizing it.
  9. GenXer

    Insulin

    I’m not blaming the Democrats. I’m suggesting they aren’t thinking outside the box. The cap is one approach to reducing costs. I’m suggesting that Democrats should be more aggressive. cross-posting my suggestions from the political cartoon thread here. 1. Allow US residents to purchase insulin (and other prescription meds) from international online providers that have FDA approval. This is a layup. It plays into the republican philosophy of competition driving prices down. 2. This one is more challenging. Build an insulin manufacturing facility(s) and partner with a company like costplus for online sales and distribution. Insulin costs less than $10 per vial to produce. Costplus’ model is cost plus 10%. This would make insulin affordable to those without health insurance. This initiative fits well into the philosophy of improving our infrastructure. This could’ve been framed as a national security issue as diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US. Like Trump, funds could be appropriated from the military like they were for his wall. These funds could’ve been used to stand up the facility. Profits from insulin sales could then pay back the military. I also think legislation should be included that requires doctors’ insulin prescriptions to include generics. My gut and my experience tells me that doctors lazily put the brand name on prescriptions and don’t tell the patient about the generic name of the same drug. This can have a pretty big financial impact. Yes. That’s exactly what I said. Sigh.
  10. GenXer

    Insulin

    This is true unfortunately. As a type 1, ACA was extremely important to me. It introduced legislation that prevented insurance companies from refusing to sell health insurance to diabetics. Prior to ACA, I couldn’t buy health insurance. I could get it through my employer but bot individually. This put me in a precarious position during the great recession. I listened to every republican politician demonize obamacare and run on a platform to overturn it. Uninformed voters lined up to pull the GOP lever. GOP will do this again with the new insulin bill. The writing is on the wall. Once again, I fucking hate republicans.
  11. GenXer

    Insulin

    Call me a lot of things but GOP fanboy are fighting words. I fucking hate republicans.
  12. GenXer

    Insulin

    Correct. There’s a follow-up bill for insulin to address a wider group. The bill that passed only helps the olds.
  13. GenXer

    Insulin

    Yeah. I can see why you’re skeptical. I did set myself up with using “concern” several times in my OP. Let me be clear about my motivation. I fucking hate republicans. Their demonization of ACA and rebranding it is obamacare to demonize it was sickening. I campaigned for Beto for his senate run in 2018. I hosted a phone bank and worked several myself. I’m a type 1 and have been one for 35 years. Found out my freshman year of college. I was in the ICU for one week with pancreatitis and a regular hospital room for one additional week. I remember the nurse bringing me a syringe and an orange to practice injections. Sticking yourself with a needle the first time is a big hurdle when you’re 18. They wouldn’t release me from the hospital until I had started giving myself insulin injections. Simple math puts me at over 60,000 injections I’ve given myself. That’s a shit ton of insulin. When I turned diabetic, insulin cost $13 a bottle for a mobth’s supply. Minimum wage was $3.33. My insulin now for the two types are $50 and$300. The cap of $35 per month is great but I’m concerned about the 19 year old college student that may not have health insurance. Will that person who is barely scraping by fall through the cracks with this bill? I was that person 35 years ago.
  14. GenXer

    Insulin

    My critique of the Infrastructure Bill and its lack of lowering insulin cost in the political cartoon thread raised the ire of several people. I thought the discussion merited its own thread. My critique of the Democrats’ solution of capping the price centered around the lack of creative solutions to lower the cost. I offered a couple of suggestions which I won’t rehash here. In the other thread, one poster said the insulin cost problem will be addressed in another bill: Affordable Insulin Now act. The following is taken from the congressional website. This bill limits cost-sharing for insulin under private health insurance and the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Specifically, the bill caps cost-sharing under private health insurance for a month's supply of selected insulin products at $35 or 25% of a plan's negotiated price (after any price concessions), whichever is less, beginning in 2023. The bill caps cost-sharing under the Medicare prescription drug benefit for a month's supply of covered insulin products at $35 beginning in 2023. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6833 The above wording concerns me as it protects those of us with private health insurance through our employers and those covered under medicare. But does it also protect those with no health insurance? Does it protect those with an ACA marketplace health insurance plan? Another concern I have about the bill is that it gives political ammunition for republicans. Republicans and their foxnews propaganda machine demonized ACA for nearly a decade. It was very effective as a tool to mobilize low-information voters. I can already hear pharma earning calls blaming low insulin margins once the price cap eventually goes into effect albeit years from now. I can hear them complain that its affecting their ability to develop new drugs. foxnews will demonize this bill and Dems will suffer politically with those same low-information voters. I’m distraught by the trap Dems have built for themselves and their lack of creativity with the bill. Introducing more insulin providers and competition in the space is a much better solution as it uses the republican argument against them.
  15. I’m not giving any politician a pass. Republican politicians demonized obamacare until 2018 when they finally saw that ACA was politically preferable. I knew going in that they would fight tooth and nail against any reduction of pharma profits. brakeman’s cartoon irked me because it’s a gift of lower drug costs. That gift only applies to the olds on medicare. How about the 6 year old whose blood sugar spiked to 400 this morning cause he has the dawn effect? He woke up 5 times last night to piss and get a drink of water. He’ll get 15 units of lispro this morning and be sleepy during school cause he didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Mom will stop by the pharmacy and drop another $50 for another bottle of lispro. Probably need another $300 bottle of levemir as well. This is the daily life and economics of a type 1 diabetic without good health insurance. Bernie was the one that carried the torch for us early on. I expect bold solutions.
  16. Nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. Fuck republicans and their decade long demonization of obamacare.
  17. Health insurance companies would not sell health insurance to type 1 diabetics because we are not profitable customers. https://diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/Preserving the Affordable Care Act is Crucial to People with Diabetes.pdf The ACA made it illegal for insurers to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to individuals with preexisting conditions like diabetes, paving the way for millions of Americans to gain coverage free from discrimination based on health status.
  18. Yes. That’s exactly what I said. Your strawman argument fails. Dems knew the GQP would fight anything that helps people at the expense of pharma profits. Dems had an opportunity to make a real difference but failed to think outside the box. See my comment below. I don’t pay that as I have joined the corporate ranks and get insurance provided by my corporate employer. I am an advocate for the 20 yr old college student that is struggling to get by and doesn’t have the advantage of corporate insurance. That person is paying retail. Dems failed to introduce creative legislation in the infrastructure bill. I’ve made the following suggestion (#1 below) to Dem and Rep candidates numerous times with positive feedback from both parties. 1. Allow US residents to purchase insulin (and other prescription meds) from international online providers that have FDA approval. This is a layup. It plays into the republican philosophy of competition driving prices down. 2. This one is more challenging. Build an insulin manufacturing facility(s) and partner with a company like costplus for online sales and distribution. Insulin costs less than $10 per vial to produce. Costplus’ model is cost plus 10%. This would make insulin affordable to those without health insurance. This initiative fits well into the philosophy of improving our infrastructure. This could’ve been framed as a national security issue as diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US. Like Trump, funds could be appropriated from the military like they were for his wall. These funds could’ve been used to stand up the facility. Profits from insulin sales could then pay back the military. Pharma and retail pharmacy companies would scream because insulin sales lets them print money. But, fuck them. They’re standing on the shoulders of the three Canadians that discovered and developed the technique to extract insulin. In turn, they sold the patent for this technology to Eli Lilly for $1 a piece.
  19. That’s a shitty comment. Type 1 is not type 2. Type 1 diabetics don’t produce any insulin. If we don’t inject insulin (5 times a day for me), I die. Type 2’s still create insulin but are usually overweight. Diet and exercise can control it for them. i turned type 1 at 17 but thought I was invincible. I ended up in the ICU for a week with pancreatitis. My pancreas was digesting itself. A couple of type 1’s I went to high school with have died because of it before they hit 30. One of them went blind around 25. Type 1’s couldn’t buy health insurance until ACA passed in 2010. Before that, the for-profit US healthcare system relegated type 1’s to completely fend for ourselves. Healthcare and its cost has been top of mind for me likely much longer than you’ve considered global warming top of mind. Your take a walk comment is highly insulting and demeaning for the 1.9 million type 1 diabetics.
  20. Lower drug costs. My ass. Levemir will still cost $300 for a one month supply. Democrats fucking failed us type 1 diabetics.
  21. Prescription drugs done? Are you grading on a curve cause this type 1 diabetic disagrees.
  22. This has already happened. Manual labor has been immigration-heavy for decades. In ‘94, I was doing a warehouse management system implementation in Secaucus NJ. The warehouse workers were largely spanish and polish speakers. Every sign was in english, spanish and polish. I trained one person how to use the system in english then one person translated to the spanish speaking group and another person translated to the polish speaking group. Nowadays, much warehouse staff comes from temp agencies. I suspect many of these people are undocumented. It’s a way for the warehouse to satisfy the daily resource needs without the liability of confirming their work status as that is passed to the temp agency. Covid opened the gate for corporate work to be remote. It’s not going back. People I’ve worked with began their state migration in 2021.
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