Diabetic, 27, dies after taking cheaper insulin as he lost private health insurance

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/diabetes-josh-wilkerson-death-age-counter-insulin-cost-lost-private-health-insurance-american-doctor-a9039656.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR39CVQpRV0Mti-0ZJbyj9RRwiuJp-u3Q2oVuqe4mRnMq2HhZsbmLNGoAaI#Echobox=1565029079

Antonio Olivo
Aug. 5, 2019

Josh Wilkerson was alone, in the sleeping quarters above the northern Virginia dog kennel where he worked, when he suffered a series of strokes that would prove fatal.

He had aged out of his stepfather’s health insurance plan on his 26th birthday and eventually switched to over-the-counter insulin. Like many other diabetics his age, he could not afford the prescription brand he needed.

A few hours after taking another dose of the lower-grade medication that June day in Leesburg, Mr Wilkerson was in the throes of a diabetic coma – his blood sugar level 17 times higher than what is considered normal.

His death at age 27 illustrates the worst-case scenario for thousands of lower-income people living with diabetes in the United States who depend on over-the-counter insulin that – for $25 (£21) a vial at Walmart – sells for one-tenth of what the more effective version costs.

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The more affordable form of the medication – sold by Walmart since 2000 under its ReliOn brand – is known as “human insulin.” It predates the genetically altered “analogue” insulin doctors routinely prescribe.

While human insulin can require as many as four hours to take effect, with varying levels of success, analogue insulin is more precise and takes as little as 20 minutes to regulate blood sugar levels, patient advocates say.

But with analogue insulin prices nearly tripling since 2002, doctors have begun recommending the cheaper version as a stopgap – a strategy endorsed for “some patients” by the American Diabetes Association in a white paper published last year.

Allison Bailey, US advocacy manager for T1International, a nonprofit organisation for people with type 1 diabetes, said human insulin may work better for people who have type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease that develops more often in people who are overweight and that is more manageable with diet and exercise.

For the estimated 1.25 million people with type 1 diabetes in the US, using human insulin is riskier.

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“It’s pretty much a death sentence,” Ms Weaver said of people who are forced to ration insulin or depend on the less-reliable form sold over the counter. “They have no health insurance or good jobs to afford what they need, so they’re left with the pittance that is left.”