Benjamin Scott Savard is a writer, editor, and advocate for universal health care. He is working on a book about the challenges of insulin access in America.
The FDA just announced that it will allow the state of Florida to import cheaper pharmaceuticals from Canada, which imposes price controls on its drugs. The FDA’s move is welcome but raises the question: Why doesn’t the US cap the price of medicines too?
Thanks to activist efforts, corporate and government policies have begun to make insulin more affordable for diabetics. These changes were won by exposing Big Pharma’s role in the US’s unjust for-profit health care system.
The three big insulin manufacturers recently announced some reductions in prices. But the price changes didn’t come from corporate beneficence — they came from public and government pressure. And they don’t go nearly far enough.