Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

Drug costs in general are jacked up in the US. Insurance will "negotiate" but ends up paying anyway. No insurance, you pay the full price.

Insulin is cheap. My brother gets his from the Brazilian government, no charge and no proof of income(it is a life-saving medication and you already pay your taxes). If you want more "convenience" (receive at home, not wait in line, etc), you can go to a pharmacy and pay. Costs maybe $20 for a month's supply of brand name long acting insulin (less if you are low income, even less if you have some forms of private insurance).

The Brazilian government also highly incentivizes generics vs brand names, doctors will often prescribe by the active ingredient unless there's a very specific reason to go to a particular brand. It has threatened to break patents (and done so on occasion) of companies that overcharge for essential medication (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-merck-brazil/brazil-bypas...)

There is absolutely no way insulin costs should be as high as they are. Walmart survives with a 3% profit margin but somehow we allow pharmaceutical companies to charge about whatever they want. It's not 'high tech' anymore, despite minor improvements by Lilly and friends to keep the patents alive.

Related: US health care costs (global is following) are also higher than they should because of the food industry. They will push their sugar heavy processed crap worldwide, but in the US they use high fructose corn syrup. For decades fructose was erroneously pushed to diabetics because fructose doesn't raise insulin levels. What it does do it cause metabolic syndrome, ultimately leading to obesity, type-2 diabetes, and there are links to cancer and even a growing number of publication linking to Alzheimer's and dementia in general. 88% of Americans have some sort of metabolic dysfunction(https://www.ksl.com/article/50332891/88-of-americans-are-met...).

We tend to shame people and say that they are pre-diabetic, obese or what have you because they are lazy and over eat. That's untrue. You can't outrun a bad diet. People will try to "eat healthy" and eat a bowl of cereal because companies say it's good for you. It is not. They will cut fat (and end up eating more carbs) because they have been told (by the food industry) that fat is bad. It is not, sugar and highly processed foods are. They feed people bad information(a calorie is a calorie) and then shame people for not "taking care of themselves", all the while polluting geniune research that contradicts them. It's terrible.

I think what the GP was trying to say is they could easily solve this problem however letting it happen and blabbering about fixing the issue is easier and more profitable than actually doing anything.

They make pills for that :)

What does it usually imply?

Insulin is expensive for the same reasons that epi pens are expensive[1] and why Martin Shkreli could increase the price of Daraprim by 50x without worrying about losing market share[2]. The FDA restricts the manufacture and importation of these drugs. Often there is only one manufacturer who has managed to jump through all the bureaucratic hoops, giving them a monopoly on the drug.

1. https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/08/29/reverse-voxsplaining-d...

2. https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/09/24/the-problems-with-gene...