When Senator Susan Collins joined the Senate in 1997, a vial of insulin cost $17. Over the course of Collins’ 24 years in Washington, insulin prices have surged to $300 per vial.
Senator Collins’ failure to take meaningful action to curb the skyrocketing cost of insulin has led members of the Type 1 Diabetes community in Maine to call her out for “resting on her laurels” and “siding with big pharma over constituents in exchange for campaign cash.”
As insulin costs have continued to rise, more than one quarter of people with diabetes in the US have been forced to ration their insulin. But even with surging prices putting lives at risk, pharmaceutical companies have continued to charge ever increasing amounts, tripling the list price in the last decade alone.
“No one should ever have to ration lifesaving medication, but while Susan Collins has been in the Senate the price of insulin has skyrocketed to the point where far too many people with diabetes have been forced to make that devastating choice,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “Now is not the time for inaction or half measures; we need a Senator who will take the fight to big pharma and work to ensure every Mainer can afford the prescriptions they need.”
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