“Pay or Die,” a new feature from MTV Documentary Films, lays bare the cost of America’s insulin crisis.Directed by Scott Alexander Ruderman and Rachael Dyer, the doc, which premiered at SXSW in March, illustrates how Type 1 diabetics are struggling to afford insulin — a liquid that most humans are lucky enough to produce naturally in their bodies.
For those whose bodies have stopped producing it (through no fault of their own) and who can’t pay for it, the consequences can be fatal, as the documentary’s main subject, Nicole Smith-Holt, knows all too well.“He could not afford to stay alive,” she tells the filmmakers of her son Alec, a Type 1 diabetic who died at the age of 26.
Despite earning a salary of $40,000, he could not afford medical supplies, which topped $1,000 per month.
He was found dead in 2017 from complications caused by rationing insulin just three and a…
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