BY SARA EWING-MERRILLSPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD

People who take insulin are among those hardest hit by spiraling expenses. A new medication pricing bill would help them.

Americans agree that prescription drug prices are too high. Countless individuals and families across the country are grappling with impossible choices between buying the medication they need to stay healthy and paying the bills. And with no prescription is that truer than insulin.

BY MITCH LENETT

Amid the ongoing health care debate in Washington, the House of Representatives will soon consider game-changing legislation that would provide relief to the American public from the high costs of prescription drugs.

BY MARTY HENDERSON, PATRICK CAROLAN

In the United States, 30.3 million people live with diabetes. One in four of those people — about 7.5 million people — is forced to ration insulin because of the high price of this life-saving drug. Proverbs 15:27 tells us: “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house.”

No one should die because they have been priced out of purchasing a lifesaving medicine that costs no more than $6.16 to produce. It costs about as much to produce a vial of insulin as it does to get an ice cream cone, so we must ask: How does insulin end up costing people with diabetes $350 per vial?

By BENJAMIN DUONG AND LORRAINE TULIANO

As people age, they need more prescription drugs to address chronic and age-related health issues at a time when their household income and resources are declining. This issue is especially critical in Florida, which leads the nation in aging seniors, with 20% of the population being 65 or older as of 2017. With no limit on out-of-pocket costs for Medicare drugs, millions of seniors are struggling, forced to make tough choices between paying for prescriptions or for basic needs like food and housing.

BY JENNIFER BUTLER

As a pastor, I am deeply invested in the health and well being of my community. Every day, I pray for God to heal those who are sick, and to move our elected leaders to pass policies that end needless suffering.

In the Christian Bible, the Book of James teaches that faith without works is dead. Our religion exhorts us to take meaningful steps to heal the world even as we rely on God’s grace for our ultimate salvation. In politics, lip service without action is meaningless too.

BY MARGARIDA JORGE

Prescription opioid overdoses have claimed more than 200,000 lives in the United States over the last decade, ravaging countless towns and cities and emerging as a case study for some of the worst corporate abuse in years.

Access to Medicines Broadcast with Margarida Jorge

In the U.S., the battle over drug prices is heating up to confront corporate greed and pay-to-play politics. We examine how audacious organizing and morally-centered messaging proved victorious decades ago and holds promise for building a movement to liberate us from living at pharma’s mercy.