Abstract

There's frequent discourse regarding the rising cost of insulin in the US. Insulin is a drug that over 7 million people rely on for survival, and it has tripled in cost over the last decade. The pricing regulation of the drug is dependent on multiple stakeholders, including wholesalers, pharmacy benefit managers, and manufacturing companies. Due to the lack of governmental intervention in the process of pharmaceutical cost regulation in the US, data on the price negotiations and the rebate system between these entities is unavailable in public records, making it difficult to determine a primary cause as the root of the issue of insulin costs. This paper attempts to understand the policies in place that impact the nature of insulin affordability and assesses the Canadian regulation of the cost of insulin to understand the discrepancy between the affordability in Canada in comparison to the affordability of insulin in US. A literature review was conducted to examine the policies and congressional discourse in order to analyze the current insulin market and the policies currently in discussion. Ultimately the discrepancy between the nature of health care in Canada and in the US is characterized by the underlying social principles that govern each country in terms of health policy. The Canadian health care system is built on the foundation that health care is a human right, whereas in the United States, health care is a commodity. The effect of this ideology is observed in the costs and regulation of pharmaceutical insulin.

Thesis Completion

2020

Semester

Fall

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Hinojosa, Melanie

Co-Chair

Hawthorne, Timothy

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Undergraduate Studies

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

12-1-2020

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