Nearly a dozen people living with diabetes recently boarded a bus to travel from Minnesota to Canada to purchase affordable insulin, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Those who made the hours-long trip to London, Ontario, last week said they have had to choose between purchasing insulin or paying their bills.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Here in the United States, people are having to choose between, ‘Do I pay my rent or do I buy my insulin?’” Deb Souther, one of the people who made the journey, told a local Fox station in an interview released on Monday.

During the interview, Souther, who has diabetes, presented reporters with a pair of insulin vials she is required to take. “This one was purchased in Canada for $34 and this one in the United States for $380.”

Souther said she purchased a three-month supply of the drug while she was in Canada.

“It’s unbelievable that we can just go across the border and get the insulin for this price,” she added. “Three months’ supply and save thousands and thousands of dollars.”

Souther and others who made the trip told the station they hope their journey for affordable insulin brings more awareness to the rising costs of the drug in the U.S.

“This can’t be a long-term solution of, 'let’s just go to Canada. Let’s just go to Mexico.' That’s not feasible,” Sarah Ginsberg, another person made the bus trip, told the station.

“We need change here in our own country; we should not be relying on another country to keep us alive,” Ginsberg, who has type-one diabetes, also said.

The report arrives several months after Colorado became the first state to cap how much someone could be required to pay out-of-pocket for insulin amid a dramatic rise in prices from the drug. The bill limits co-pays associated with insulin to $100 per month.