Who is to blame for the high cost of insulin?  A new Causes or Cures Podcast!

Before recording this podcast, I would almost instinctively blame “Big Pharma” for the high cost of insulin in the United States. I suppose Big Pharma is an umbrella term for all the players involved in a for-profit, private healthcare system, but as with most things, the devil is in the details. Most of us either know someone or read stories about everyday Americans who can’t afford insulin, and we wonder why a life-saving medication costs so much. As you’ll learn in the podcast, it’s a more complicated story than just blaming Big Pharma. But you will also get a good idea about “who” under the “Big Pharma” umbrella should be blamed.

In this episode of Causes or Cures, I chat with Dr. Karen Van Nuys and Dr. Neeraj Sood about the pricing of insulin in the United States. This discussion will center around how the price of insulin is set, all the players involved, and who is to blame for the high cost of insulin in the US. We will explore who benefits the most from increasing insulin prices, whether or not the Inflation Reduction Act will make a significant difference, and what can practically be done to make insulin more affordable for more Americans. (It’ll be nice if we can take some of their suggestions and put them into action!)

Dr. Van Nuys is the executive director of the Value of Life Sciences Innovation program and a fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center. She is also a research assitant professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy.  You can learn more about her work here. Dr. Sood is a professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy with joint appointments at the USC Keck School of Medicine and USC Marshall School of Business. He is also a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer center and you can learn more about his work here.

I hope you guys tune into the episode and while you’re on the podcast, I invite you to check out some of the other episodes too. Please share, subscribe, tell your friends…you know, all that jazz. ;) Here are links to a couple of other recent episodes I did:

The Amish and COVID-19: How did they respond? How did they do compared to the mainstream? Click here to learn more.

Dogs are Helping Detect Parkinson’s Disease! Lear more aboutthis episode here. 

Thanks and chat soon.

Eeks