In our earlier posts, Nystrom: Novo Nordisk hired lobbyists to kill 2019 Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act and Gazelka claims diabetes advocate didn't contact him. Then says calls came at "busy stretch", Bluestem has been providing our take on reporting about Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka's walking back his claims about Nystrom's veracity.
Gazelka had speculated that "political opponents might be using the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act as a disingenuous ploy..."
Now her father cuts to the heart of the matter in Reader Opinion: The time is now:
Diabetes is not a political position. Democrats and Republicans are both diabetics. Seven and-a-half million Americans live with insulin-dependent diabetes. As a pharmacist for 40 years, I understand the cost and care of diabetes. On a personal note, I am the father of two adult children, Quinn and Will, living with diabetes.
Between 1996-2018, insulin prices rose by 1,200 percent alone. Lobbyists for Big Pharma attended the Minnesota legislative session, spending large sums to persuade members of the GOP to kill the bill. Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, admitted to “touch base” with the representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. He didn’t recollect any specific discussions regarding insulin, nor pressure to stall any legislation.
As for the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act, a legislative measure to provide emergency insulin, a “clerical error” was cited by Senate Republicans for not being seen by committee and thus the bill died. How convenient. I have a hard time believing that didn’t influence the decision. Alec Smith, 26, was rationing his insulin, hoping that it would last. But it didn’t. He died. How many Minnesotans will have to die before this legislation is enacted? We can’t wait – not when one out of four diabetics are rationing life-sustaining insulin.
People are dying. A second young man, Jesimya David Scherer-Radcliffe, died this past week in the Twin Cities due to rationing insulin and a lack of health insurance. This is not a political issue. This is a human rights issue. It’s time for Senate Republicans to put aside their differences and join the Minnesota House and Governor Walz, who already support the bill.[emphasis added]
The time is now.
Kudoes to the editors for posting his letter. We also recommend Mike Wedding's letter in the paper today. Read Reader Opinion: Words matter online at the Dispatch.
Photo: Jesimya David Scherer-Radcliffe, who "died this past week in the Twin Cities due to rationing insulin and a lack of health insurance," Nystrom writes. Via Star Tribune obit.
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