Bernie Sanders Leads Caravan to Purchase Cheaper Insulin in Canada

This past Sunday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders led a group of people with Type I diabetes into Canada to purchase insulin for a fraction of the price they would be charged in the United States.

He spoke passionately about his trip and the hardships facing people with Type I diabetes in his closing remarks at last night’s Democratic Debate. He blames the “greedy” pharmaceutical companies and lawmakers who refuse to take on the crisis for the skyrocking costs of insulin. By traveling to Canada, which has a single-payer, government-backed health care system, he was also making an implicit case for his “Medicare for All” plan, which would create a similar system in this country.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has long championed efforts to bring down the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs.

Earlier this year she invited Nicole Smith-Holt, a Minnesota woman whose son died from diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) because he struggled to afford his insulin prescription, to the State of the Union Address.

Under Nicole’s insurance, Alec had been paying $200-300 a month to manage his Type 1 diabetes. When he turned 26, he was forced off his mother’s insurance, driving the cost for his insulin to nearly $1,300 a month—$200 more than Alec’s biweekly paycheck from his full-time job.

Klobuchar and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are the lead sponsors of the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Actand Biosimilars Act, which would limit “pay for delay” deals in whichdrug manufacturers use anti-competitive pay-off agreements to prevent or delay the introduction of affordable follow-on versions of branded pharmaceuticals, and the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act, which allow individuals to safely import prescription drugs from Canada.