Who is accountable for costly prescription prices? - Kiah Williams episode artwork

EPISODE · May 30, 2026 · 7 MIN

Who is accountable for costly prescription prices? - Kiah Williams

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Take a look at the US supply chain to explore the three main reasons why medications like insulin are so expensive.--A century after its discovery, insulin remain essential in treating diabetes, and has a relatively low production cost, with a vial generally costing less than $6 to make. But those in the US pay on average 10 times more than those in other countries— leading some patients to take less than prescribed. Kiah Williams takes a look at the US supply chain to explore why medications are so expensive.Lesson by Kiah Williams, directed by Tolga Yıldız, Serin İnan, Kozmonot Animation Studio.Learn more about how SIRUM is reimagining health care access for those in need: https://sirum.orgSupport Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/3-reasons-why-medications-are-so-expensive-in-the-us-kiah-williamsDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/3-reasons-why-medications-are-so-expensive-in-the-us-kiah-williams/digdeeperAnimator's website: https://www.kozmonot.tv----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li and Cristóbal Moenne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take a look at the US supply chain to explore the three main reasons why medications like insulin are so expensive.--A century after its discovery, insulin remain essential in treating diabetes, and has a relatively low production cost, with a vial generally costing less than $6 to make. But those in the US pay on average 10 times more than those in other countries— leading some patients to take less than prescribed. Kiah Williams takes a look at the US supply chain to explore why medications are so expensive.Lesson by Kiah Williams, directed by Tolga Yıldız, Serin İnan, Kozmonot Animation Studio.Learn more about how SIRUM is reimagining health care access for those in need: https://sirum.orgSupport Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/3-reasons-why-medications-are-so-expensive-in-the-us-kiah-williamsDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/3-reasons-why-medications-are-so-expensive-in-the-us-kiah-williams/digdeeperAnimator's website: https://www.kozmonot.tv----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li and Cristóbal Moenne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Who is accountable for costly prescription prices? - Kiah Williams

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This episode was published on May 30, 2026.

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Take a look at the US supply chain to explore the three main reasons why medications like insulin are so expensive.--A century after its discovery, insulin remain essential in treating diabetes, and has a relatively low production cost, with a vial...

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