Diabetes, the Cost of Insulin, and the Challenge of Engaging Over 100 Million Americans that are Dealing with the Disease

Digital Conversations

More than 37 million Americans have diabetes today and an additional 96 million adults have pre-diabetes. Access to insulin treatment for many is vital. But in the past 10 years, the cost of insulin has increased by more than 1000% which is driving one in every four people with diabetes to ration or skip doses of insulin. The government and private sector are taking aggressive action to lower pricing, but that may not be enough.

In this episode, Samir Khanna and Greg Kefer discuss the state of the diabetes situation and the initiatives that are in progress to address the insulin cost crisis. The cost of the drug is a key part of the solution. There’s also a massive patient communication challenge that will not be solved through traditional channels such as calling or e-mail. Tens of millions of people need to be engaged, educated, and guided to the right treatment and financial programs, and emerging conversational technology may be the only way to achieve the level of communication scale required.