It's a diabetes thing

Last week, I mentioned to editor Liz that I needed to leave early for a dentist appointment.

“It seems like you've been going to the dentist a lot,” she said.

“Yep. I go four times a year now,” I replied.

“Is that a diabetes thing?” she asked.

As with so many things in my life, the answer is yes. I also last week had an appointment with one of the nurses at the diabetes center. I am lucky to be surrounded by health professionals that know their stuff.

Today is World Diabetes Day, in honor of Frederick Banting who, at age 32, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 for the discovery—in 1921—of insulin. A miracle drug which he gave to the world for the greater good, but which the drug companies have spiked the price of since 2002, more than tripling it.

And this week, we learned that The Trump wants to put another fox in charge of yet another henhouse: His nominee to head up Health and Human Services is Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and industry lobbyist, who heads up a consulting firm to the biopharmaceutical and health insurance industries. Awesome.

To add insult to injury, Mr. Azar was president of Lilly USA, an affiliate of Eli Lilly, from January 2012 to January 2017, during which insulin pricing spiked. This is not draining the swamp. It's filling it in so much that it overflows and drowns us all in its greedy wake.

Also missing the ball on diabetes: CMS and the mail-order program for diabetes testing supplies, which is getting shakier by the day with the closure of Arriva Medical, its (previously) biggest contract supplier.

Stay tuned.