BY STEFANIE JACKSON BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post —
Northampton County is joining localities in multiple states in a lawsuit over insulin prices.
The purpose of the lawsuit is to “hold manufacturers and prescription management firms responsible for the sharp increases and overcharging for insulin for many years,” County Administrator Charlie Kolakowski told Northampton supervisors on Aug. 13.
Insulin injections are often used to treat diabetes. About 1 in 10 Virginia residents live with the chronic disease.
“In Northampton County, that actually might be 1 out of 8, because we have a health issue here,” Kolakowski said.
Northampton County also has an aging population, and the risk of diabetes increases with age.
During the period of 2018 to 2022, nearly 28% of Northampton residents were senior citizens age 65 or older, according to U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data.
The American Diabetes Association states that over 40,000 Virginia adults are diagnosed with diabetes every year.
That diagnosis “comes with the daunting prospect of elevated medical expenses … largely due to the high cost of insulin, which has been artificially inflated over the years,” Kolakowski said.
He was contacted by Chap Petersen and Associates, a Fairfax law firm that is part of a consortium representing localities in the insulin lawsuit.
The law firm stated it will charge Northampton no more than 35% of the financial compensation the county receives from the lawsuit.
If Northampton gets nothing, the county pays nothing.
“There are no … direct costs to the county,” Kolakowski said.
Accomack County and the city of Portsmouth announced in May that they had joined the lawsuit, also represented by Chap Petersen and Associates.
Current insulin prices are more than 10 times higher than they were in 2003, according to the law firm.
Northampton Board of Supervisors Chair Betsy Mapp said, “I think it’s unconscionable to charge people with diabetes those kinds of prices.”
Supervisor Dixon Leatherbury made a motion to permit the county administrator to complete the paperwork for Northampton to join the lawsuit. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
