Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
washingtonpost.com
Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
1–10 of 63 posts
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#2I wonder if there is open-source equivalent in pharmacology
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#3> Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
Because there's a "type 2" diabetes epidemic, and instead of doctors telling people to stop eating for a while, they sell them insulin.
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#4I wonder if there is open-source equivalent in pharmacology
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#5> Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive Because there's a "type 2" diabetes epidemic, and instead of doctors telling people to stop eating for a while, they sell them insulin.
> and instead of doctors telling people to stop eating for a while
People won't stop eating (and especially drinking) high-sugar stuff unless they're on their deathbed. The stuff is addictive as hell.
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#6Number of people suffering from diabetes has risen exponentially, demand goes up, so do the prices.
It's going to stabilize as years go on.
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#7Insulin is just like when you have performance problem in a monolithic app and you throw more hardware at it, but at some point you can't upgrade your server anymore.
Not sure if there's much you can do while diabetic, but cut bread-like and sugary foods, these spike your insulin the most and your body becomes insulin resistant and so you need more and more insulin, more that you can make.
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#8Number of people suffering from diabetes has risen exponentially, demand goes up, so do the prices. It's going to stabilize as years go on.
Demand has gone up it hasn't risen exponentially. The manufacturers have colluded to raise the price. There is no reason for it to ever come down.
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#9As a type-1 diabetic of 17 years now, I can confirm that the price of Insulin has been steadily rising over the years.
I can also state that the majority of my medical expenses go to insulin pump supplies, not insulin itself. On average, I'm paying roughly $250/mo out of pocket, after 90% insurance coverage for the whole diabetic kit-and-kaboodle. I would be quite troubled if I were to lose my job and/or medical insurance. Thinking about the future, it's definitely a fear of being in a circumstance where I will be without supplies for any amount of time.
As another commenter noted, and got down-voted instantly, a large cause of the insulin usage increase (and therefore pump increases) is due to a dramatic increase in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetics.
Depending on where you're treated, many type-1 diabetics are given a rather thorough crash course on the disease (and it's symptom-based-cousin, type-2, for comparison). In my opinion at least, I don't feel like many type-2 diabetics are given as much information, or are potentially more reluctant to absorb it.
It's a broad generalization, but not necessarily inaccurate, to state that most type-2 patients rely on medicines to treat their symptoms and will not adjust their diets even under the worst case scenario. Type-2 in many ways can have it's symptoms reduced/resolved by something akin to a keto diet. That said, sugar is ridiculously hard to quit.
Re: Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive
#10Insulin is just like when you have performance problem in a monolithic app and you throw more hardware at it, but at some point you can't upgrade your server anymore. Not sure if there's much you can do while diabetic, but cut bread-like and sugary foods, these spike your insulin the most and your body becomes insulin resistant and so you need more and more insulin, more that you can make.
As a type-1 diabetic, your body no longer produces any insulin at all. This means even without eating any carbohydrates, your blood glucose rates will elevate every hour until you eventually succumb into a coma and shortly after, perish. I use about 34 units of insulin per day, excluding any carbohydrates -- this largely depends on body type as well, some people use much more.
A type-2 diabetic on the other hand, depending on how far their disease has progressed, could potentially ween themselves off insulin entirely if they were to completely abandon carbohydrates. These diets are extremely hard to maintain, especially indefinitely, however.