MORGANTOWN — Delegates Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, and Jordan Hill, R-Nicholas, are teaming to organize a Dec. 8 bus caravan to Canada for people to obtain lower-cost insulin for themselves or family members.
The caravan will leave from Morgantown at 6 a.m. and return at 9 p.m. Interested riders can sign up and pay the ride cost at https://insulincaravan.eventsmart.com/events/caravan-to-canada. Tickets are $100.
Passports are required to cross the border, and Fleischauer and Hill urge those who lack passports to apply now because of the time required to receive one. Expedited delivery costs extra. Applications, full instructions and costs can be found at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel.html.
The caravan site also allows those who are interested to make donations to cover the costs of tickets and passports for those who would like to go but can’t afford it.
Riders should bring two copies of their insulin prescription and snacks and drinks for the ride. The meeting site has not yet been determined.
“The reason for the caravan is because of the insulin affordability crisis,” Fleischauer said in a release announcing the trip. “The cost in the U.S. has skyrocketed – nearly tripling since 2002, up 64% since January 2014. Yet, this life-saving medicine can be purchased much more cheaply in Canada.”
Hill said, “Obviously, diabetes does not discriminate based on what political party you belong to. In the meantime, this caravan can provide some financial relief to citizens who have diabetes. One person who went on a caravan saved over $11,000.”
Hill chairs the House Health Committee. Fleischauer is the senior member on the committee and has served as vice chair and minority chair.
They said they and others on the committee have been working on legislation to limit the cost of insulin and they hope there will be bipartisan support for a solution in the 2020 legislative session.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia has the highest diabetes rate in the nation, at 16.2%. Second-place Alabama stands at 14.5%. The rates for neighboring states: Kentucky, 13.8%; Ohio, 12.%; Maryland, 11.9%; Pennsylvania, 11.4%; Virginia, 10.5%.
Adrian Kiger Olmstead, chair of the West Virginia Chapter of #insulin4all, said, “People with Type I diabetes are especially vulnerable to these price increases because their diabetes can be difficult to control. Also, less generous insurance plans result in people paying thousands of dollars out-of-pocket every year, including those on Medicare who hit the doughnut hole.”
Olmstead estimated she has spent over $300,000 in the past 20 years for medicine, equipment and treatment related to her diabetes. Olmstead was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 11 years old.
“There is a monopoly on insulin — just three companies make it,” she said. “People in our country have died because they rationed their insulin due to the cost. We hope our caravan will send a message that this problem needs to be fixed now, before anyone else loses their life.”
Email questions to insulincaravan@gmail.com.
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