It’s the insulin, stupid: How drug pricing’s simplest case study became a top issue for 2020 Democrats
WATERLOO, Iowa — Presidential candidates can’t stop talking about insulin.
At a campaign stop here on Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar retold the now-familiar story of Alec Smith, whose highly publicized death from insulin rationing in 2017 sparked nationwide outrage. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has vowed to lower the drug’s price on her first day in office, lambasted Eli Lilly, one of just three U.S. insulin manufacturers, at an Iowa rally the day before. And since July, when Sen. Bernie Sanders joined a highly publicized “insulin caravan” seeking cheaper prices in Canada, he has flooded this state with television ads that picture him brandishing an insulin vial in outrage.
Even in a primary dominated by broader health care issues, insulin has emerged as particularly alluring campaign fodder for Democrats. Unlike more perplexing topics like health insurance reform or the cost of drug research, candidates have a plain and simple rallying cry for insulin: That it’s corporate profiteering.
“Everything is coming together,” said Lija Greenseid, a Minnesota-based advocate working to push insulin into the political mainstream. “We’ve finally caught the attention of people in power.”
While insulin has existed for a century, American voters have taken notice of backbreaking price hikes that drug companies have imposed in recent decades as some insulin products have grown more technologically advanced and more effective. One recent poll showed that allowing the U.S. government to of progressive candidates’ entire 2020 agenda. And it has made for a ready opportunity for Democrats to attack President Trump: His health secretary, Alex Azar, spent five years as a top executive at Eli Lilly prior to joining the administration.
