‘An Arm and a Leg’: Revisiting insulin: How the medicine got so expensive

We're re-releasing a story we first reported in 2019, about how insulin got to be so expensive. And this 2021 update includes a check-in with people working to make the potentially lifesaving medicine more available.

The story seems especially relevant right now, for two reasons:

The rollout of the covid vaccine has reminded all of us how vital it is to make breakthroughs in the lab and make sure everyone can afford to benefit from them.

The second half of the episode — about ways that people who need insulin are taking action on their own behalf — fits An Arm and a Leg's current focus on financial self-defense.

The updates from the people we spoke with in 2019 are more encouraging than expected.

Here's a transcript of this episode.

---

“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of Kaiser Health News and Public Road Productions.

To keep in touch with "An Arm and a Leg," subscribe to the newsletter. You can also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter. And if you've got stories to tell about the health care system, the producers would love to hear from you.

To hear all Kaiser Health News podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to "An Arm and a Leg" on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Google Play or Spotify.

 

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.