When drug companies increased the price of insulin, a life-saving drug for some diabetics, several people died as a result.

Insulin did not suddenly become more expensive to produce. It is sold at a fraction of the price in other countries, but rather it's the system that allows for greed and basically extortion -- putting a price tag on people's lives.

At least 10 people are known to have died because they could not afford to buy the insulin their lives depended on.

In the U.S. 30.3 million people have diabetes, or 9.4% of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 1.5 million, 5% of those with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes.

There are two types of diabetes; Type 1, sometimes referred to as juvenile diabetes, and Type 2. In Type 1 diabetes, which afflicts many children and youths, the body does not produce insulin, meaning sufferers depend on insulin to live. Many Type 2 diabetics also require insulin for their survival.

In the U.S. 200,000 people under the age of 20 suffer from Type 1 diabetes, according to a non-profit organization focusing on education, advocacy and finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes. Meaning the high price of insulin is threatening those most vulnerable among us.

So, why is this happening and why are drug companies able to hold people hostage in order to pay their exorbitant prices, making them rich while sick people die as a result?

As I tried to look for answers I found it complicated. A bureaucratic system which creates obstacles to people's care, that not even doctors are able to do anything about it. Who is to blame exactly and how this happens is very complicated and difficult to understand. The bottom line is; drug companies are making more money and people are dying. But it doesn't have to be this way.

It is a fallacy that if the government helps provide people with proper health care it would damage the economy or create a nation of losers, which are some of the arguments I hear against reforming health care. It is the large corporations, insurance and pharmaceutical companies that stand to lose if any reform is enacted. Most Americans do not reap any of the benefits that these companies obtain.

In other democratic countries, in Europe and even Canada, the price of insulin is affordable and those countries are doing well economically. They did not become bankrupt or fall into chaos because they provided their citizens with affordable medicine.

I'm not trying to propose solutions at this time, because I don't even know exactly how to fix this. But I want people to see that there is a problem. We cannot come up with solutions if we do not acknowledge that there is a problem in the first place. We need to understand this problem and the fallacies that surround it in order to then come up with ways to fix it.

When then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with the New Deal -- a series of social programs, public works projects, and regulations that established social security and the minimum wage, among other things -- the economy prospered. It was one of the greatest booms to the U.S. economy in history. This proves wrong, whoever thinks social programs are detrimental to the economy or society.

We are one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. We have a very advanced health care system, in terms of equipment and supplies. Yet we have the highest infant mortality rate of any developed nation! Why? Something is wrong. Our system is broken and needs to be fixed.