New York Post - 13.08.2019

New York Post, Tuesday, August 13, 2019

nypost.com

31

Health&Fitness

As insulin prices skyrocket, diabetes patients are

turning to a cheaper alternative. But is it safe?

By HANNAH FRISHBERG

I

S discount insulin cheaper for a

reason?

The bargain drug made the

news recently when Josh Wilk-

erson, a Type 1 diabetic from

northern Virginia, died at 27 after

switching from fast-acting pre-

scription insulin to a less-expen-

sive, but slower-acting, form of

the blood-sugar regulator.

“It didn’t work for his body,”

mom Erin Wilson-Weaver tells

The Post. Wilkerson’s doctor

recommended an over-the-

counter brand called ReliOn, sold

for $25 a vial at Walmart, as a stop-

gap after he lost his health insur-

ance. Both Wilson-Weaver and

Wilkerson’s fiancée, 27-year-old

Rose Walters, say that he strug-

gled to manage his diabetes symp-

toms after switching medications

— and in June, he fell into a dia-

betic coma and died.

Type 1 diabetics like Wilkerson,

whose bodies don’t produce

enough insulin, have been increas-

ingly hit with huge costs for their

insulin prescriptions: Prices for

the drug, which helps patients

maintain stable and normal blood-

sugar levels, have doubled in re-

cent years. In 2012, the average

cost of insulin was $2,864 for a

year’s supply, but that shot up to

$5,705 by 2016, according to

Reuters.

Some patients struggling to

afford the price hike have rationed

their insulin, or stopped taking

prescription “analogue” insulin —

the more modern version of the

drug, which doctors describe as

more precise and fast-acting — for

“human” insulin, an older version

that works slower, but also costs

less. Wilkerson’s ReliOn is a

human insulin.

It’s not that human insulin

doesn’t work — for many patients,

especially those who are

meticulous about monitoring

their blood sugar frequently, it’s

an OK substitute, says endocrinol-

ogist Siham Accacha, director of

the Pediatric Diabetes Center at

NYU Winthrop in Mineola, LI.

Plus, it was the go-to treatment

before its speedier analogue coun-

terpart hit the market in the 1990s.

But analogue insulin, Accacha

tells The Post, “is closer to the

physiologic insulin production of

the body” — and it leaves more

room for error for diabetics who

don’t time their intake perfectly.

Human insulin, by contrast,

“needs more planning,” and it’s

slower. “It takes a long time to

start working... [and] it’s not as

efficient,” she says.

She’d recommend that patients

take analogue insulin if they can

afford it. For those who can’t,

Accacha says that it’s critical to do

a blood-sugar check every three

hours, and to take insulin at least a

half-hour before eating.

For now, the cheaper type re-

mains a lifeline for some, although

it’s not a long-term answer to the

insulin crisis.

“It’s ridiculous to have insulin be

sold at $300, $400 [a vial],” says

Accacha. Telling everyone to

switch to human insulin, she says,

is “not a solution.”

[email protected]

INSULIN INSULIN INSULIN

CLEARANCE!

Luis Rendon/NY Post

3

CLIMBS
This total-body
exercise involves
climbing up the pole
with a show-stopping
hip thrust.

1. Facing the pole,
   stretch one arm up
   to grasp the pole

high from behind.
Lift your front leg 90

degrees, so your shin
is parallel with the
pole. Press the inside

of your knee and
outside of your ankle

into the pole, so your
foot hooks around it.
2) Now, bend the

other arm to grab
onto the pole at

shoulder height.
Bring your second
leg up to the back of

the pole. Squeeze
the pole tightly

between your ankles
and knees, keeping
your knees bent at

90-degree angles
and your core tight.

3. Extend your legs,
   shift your hips
   forward, and bend

your top arm to pull
yourself into a

standing position.
Continue squeezing
the pole between

knees and ankles.
Straighten your top

arm and shift your
hips back down to a
90-degree angle

position and repeat.
Make it a workout:

Do three sets of
three to five reps
each at a slow and

controlled tempo.

1

2

3

Taking cheap shots

The percentage that hospital­visit prices increased between 

2013 and 2017, according to a data brief by UnitedHealth Group. 

The report found the cost of hospital care is progressively ris­

ing, even though 5 percent fewer patients actually checked 

into hospitals during that four-year timespan. In 2018, pa-

tients with private insurance spent more than $200 billion at 

hospitals, and that spending is predicted to exceed $350 bil­

lion in 2029. Cost-driving factors included unnecessary 

emergency-room visits, higher charges for specialist doctors 

and cost increases for operating-room goods and services. 

— Suzy Weiss

BIG NUMBER

19%