I’m a social worker and person with diabetes. Here’s why getinsulin dot org is so annoying to me: 1/

Reason 1 - glaring annoyance that it uses pharma funding. Like why? It’s like Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant giving out a flyer with their biz logo that tells hungry people where to eat. 2/

Reason 2 - if someone is 7 days away from not having insulin, they are in fight/flight mode. Their critical thinking is compromised. Navigating a website with a bunch of red/yellow text isn’t going to result in any action, because they CAN’T. 3/

Reason 3 - giving someone a number and being like “call them, good luck” is the WORST POSSIBLE thing to do in a crisis. There’s restrictions, applications, steps, and zero guarantees. Giving someone with already limited capacity another thing to do is dangerous and wrong. 4/

Reason 4- stupid ass resource guides are underfunded social service entities oldest trick (like, “we did what we could”). BUT BT1 IS NOT AN UNDERFUNDED SOCIAL SERVICE ENTITY. 5/

Reason 5- obviously the people who wrote this and the weird stans for the site have never sat in a community action agency bc they got evicted and need a place to stay only to be told “call these other people who might be able to help”. 6/

Reason 6- many of these programs only operate during biz hrs, so they are asking vulnerable people to take time away from work/responsibilities to beg the insulin cartel for a discount. PWDs already face challenges at work with sick time, and this requires A LOT of time. 7/

Reason 7- the page doesn’t tell you that only a small percentage of pts get assistance, and it’s very limited if they do. This is like giving rental assistance for one month to someone who is unemployed and inevitably not going to be able to pay their rent in a month again. 8/

Reason 7 cont - people get denied, then get discouraged, are tired of waiting on the fucking phone and being asked the same q’s again and again, and give up. 9/

So basically, I’m annoyed that a PATIENT ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION is asking the patient to do the work - sit on the phone, get denied, take time away from work, navigate an absolutely impossibly confusing system, without support. 10/

These dumb lists of PAPs exist everywhere on the internet. Like, thanks for Googling for us? None of this is new, creative or helpful. 11/

Mutual aid groups are the only ones providing immediate assistance to ppl in need. Full stop. And, like everyone else has said, the pharma douche canoes wouldn’t need to use our money to sponsor a website if insulin didn’t cost more than what ppl on minimum age make in a week. /

Okay also #Insulin4All goodbye