In the wake of rising insulin prices in the United States and recent threats to public health safety nets like Medicaid, patients with type 1 diabetes are becoming increasingly more vulnerable. As a member of the T1D community and a rising second year Masters student at the Yale School of Public Health, Samantha Willner is hoping to shed light on the terrible sacrifices members of the T1D community in the U.S. have had to make in order to get the medicine they need to live.

Samantha is currently collecting data for her thesis aimed at understanding and describing the coping mechanisms that American adults with T1D employ when they cannot access insulin and other diabetes supplies. Heart-breaking and illuminating anecdotes of T1D patients being unable to access or afford insulin have been collected by organizations like T1International in the past, and Samantha hopes to add to these types of resources with her study.

The aim is to better understand how difficult circumstances arise, how people with diabetes cope in these situations, and the impact of rising insulin prices on patient quality of life. By systematically collecting these stories and analyzing them qualitatively, Samantha hopes to initiate a new body of literature on insulin access in the United States that can potentially inform future policy changes and advocacy efforts on behalf of the T1D community.

Eligible participants will be interviewed over the phone by Samantha about their experiences being unable to access insulin, and will be asked to share their emotional and coping responses in these circumstances. Interviewees will also be asked about the impact these circumstances may have had on other areas of their lives such as career, relationships, finances, and health. Interviews will last approximately 45-60 minutes. No identifying information such as name, birth date, specific location, or employer will be collected, and any references to such identifying information will be deleted from interview transcripts.

If you are an adult between the ages of 18-65 based in the U.S., have been faced with challenges accessing or affording insulin in the last ten years, and would be willing to contribute your experience to this study, please contact Samantha at samantha.willner@yale.edu.