At the state of the Union address, President Joe Biden shouted out one constituency in particular.

One in 10 Americans has diabetes. Many of you in this chamber do, and then the audience.

But every day millions need insulin to control their diabetes so they can literally stay

alive.

Biden also had some choice words for the drug companies involved in that business.

It costs the drug companies roughly $10 a mile to make that insulin. Package in an

all and you may get up to $13. But big pharma has been unfairly charging people

hundreds of dollars, four to five hundred dollars a month, making

record profits. Not anymore.

The fact is, the price of insulin has gone up dramatically, more than a thousand percent

in the last 20 years. Bram Sable Smith was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about 11 years

ago. And even with insurance coverage, he's noticed the cost of his own insulin creep

up over that time.

You know, my first vial of insulin cost me about $25 after insurance. That was in 2011.

And then time went on. In 2016 or so, I was paying over $100 for my monthly supply

of insulin. That was two vials of insulin. So there I'm seeing it right there in my life.

Bram reports for Kaiser Health News. And living with the chronic disease means there are

times when his life starts to intersect with his work. Last year, he wrote an article

titled, I write about America's absurd health care system. Then I got caught up in it.

The story Bram tells and the article is infuriating. For people suffering from diabetes, it's

also not so uncommon. After he moved to start a new job, Bram had trouble getting a hold

of more insulin. When he called up the pharmacy to get things sorted, he learned that his

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