![]() When a young person dies from diabetic ketoacidosis because they rationed insulin, the culprit is clear. Based on these data, the American Diabetes Association now recommends SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists be used before insulin for most patients with type 2 diabetes. And SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists pose less risk of causing dangerously low blood sugar, generally do not require frequent injections, and help patients lose weight. Giving patients these drugs instead of older options over a period of three years prevents, on average, one death for about every 100 treated. Large clinical trials have shown that two newer classes of diabetes medicines, SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists, outperform alternatives (including insulin) in reducing the risk of these disabling or deadly outcomes. Read: People are clamoring to buy old insulin pumps Foremost and finally, although insulin is excellent at tamping down high blood sugar-the hallmark of diabetes and the driver of some of its complications-it is not as impressive as other medications at mitigating the most deadly and debilitating consequences of the disease: heart attacks, kidney disease, and heart failure. All of this effort is rewarded with (usually unwanted) weight gain. The medication most commonly comes in injectable form, so administering it usually means painful needle jabs. The reasons for this are many: Of all diabetes medications, insulin carries the highest risk of causing dangerously low blood sugar. But for the 90 percent of Americans with diabetes who have type 2, it should not routinely be the first-, second-, or even third-line treatment. It remains essential to the small percent of patients with type 1 diabetes, including my patient. How could that be true? Thanks to the development of new drugs, insulin’s role in diabetes treatment has been declining over the past decade. However, in their current version, such laws might backfire, leading to even more diabetes-related deaths overall. ![]() Indeed, laws capping co-payments for insulin are welcome news both financially and medically to patients who depend on the drug for survival. In theory, the policy (and similar ones at the state level) will help the estimated 25 percent of Americans on insulin who have been forced to ration the drug because of cost, and will prevent some of the 600 annual American deaths from diabetic ketoacidosis, the fate from which I’m trying to save my patient. Although efforts to expand protections to privately insured Americans were blocked in the Senate, Democrats succeeded in capping expenses for the drug among Americans on Medicare at $35 a month, offering meaningful savings for our seniors, some of whom will save hundreds of dollars a month thanks to the measure. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last month, aims to help people like her by lowering the cost of insulin across America. But we both worry that someday, she won’t. She always manages to make it to the hospital before the damage reaches her brain and heart. And once her keto acids build up, her stomach pains and vomiting start. Soon the insatiable thirst and constant urination follow. As she stretches her supply, her blood sugar climbs. Her paycheck usually runs short at the end of the month, so her insulin does too. When I heard that my patient was back in the ICU, my heart sank.
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