As the percentage of the world population who suffers from diabetes is rapidly growing nowadays, the demand for insulin and other drugs that help these people lead their normal lives is raising as well.
Therefore, it is essential to be aware of how much does insulin cost and why in some countries you can buy cheaper insulin than in others.
By checking this article, you’ll get to know what the situation with insulin looks like in Canada. We will mainly figure out how much does it cost in Canada and whether it is cheaper there than in the U.S. So, let’s start!
What is insulin and how much does it cost in Canada?
Insulin can be defined as a peptide hormone that is produced by your pancreas and the main anabolic hormone of your body. Consequently, insulin has a great impact on how your body systems function.
Here are some body functions insulin is responsible for:
- regulation of the metabolism of your carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
- production of and secretion of glucose
- absorption of glucose from your blood into your organs
- synthesis of proteins
- conversion of small molecules in the blood into large molecules inside the cells
The above-mentioned list of insulin functions can go on, but the most important thing you ought to remember in this regard is that insulin is vital for the human body that cannot function properly without it.
If something goes wrong with insulin in your body, you’d most likely get diabetes, which is a metabolic disorder that causes insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, and numerous other negative health outcomes. Moreover, you’d have to purchase insulin and take insulin injections if you suffer from a severe case of diabetes.
So, how much would you need to spend to buy insulin in Canada? Well, most drug manufacturers sell it for approximately $35 per vial. However, you should also take into account that the exact price for insulin depends on such personal data of its buyers as different insurance drug plans that might allow their owners to buy cheaper drugs.
Is insulin cheaper in Canada than in the U.S. and why?
In the U.S., the retail price for brand-name prescription medicine is at least twice more expensive than in many other industrialized countries, including Canada.
So, the next logical question you would probably come up with is: why are prescription drugs cheaper in Canada than in the U.S.?
Well, the main reason why you can buy insulin in Canada cheaper than in the U.S. is that Canada runs regular price controls when it comes to generic drugs or patented medicine sold there. On the contrary, the U.S. government does not play an important role in controlling the drug prices and pharmacist filling fees.
Thus, your insulin costs can be drastically reduced if you would buy it from Canadian pharmacies rather than from U.S. pharmaceutical companies.
A side note: Due to the difference in price for the same drugs in Canadian and U.S. drug companies, U.S. citizens have been thinking of a possibility to order insulin from the pharmaceuticals north of the border. However, despite the fact that insulin does not refer to controlled substances, its shipping from Canada to the U.S. has not yet passed official legislation of border officials.
A bottom line
Summing it all up, the price for insulin in Canada is much cheaper than in the U.S., mainly due to the fact that it is regulated by the Canadian government. However, let’s hope for better and keep our fingers crossed that once insulin will become equally accessible for all people in the world and there won’t be any problems with rationing insulin in the future.