When I first heard about a controversy with EpiPen, which is a necessity for every school year for those with allergies, I was in Albany dropping someone off at University at Albany. From what I heard in a conversation between my mom and a friend, the price for an EpiPen was spiking 600%. The large price hike indicated that the EpiPen was not going to be cheap for the 2016-2017 school year; it was going to cost over $600 for one pack of two EpiPens. As I am a sister to a younger brother with multiple allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, horses), I found the EpiPen controversy to be quite irritating as that is a life saving prevention to an allergy reaction until getting to a hospital.

An EpiPen is an auto-injector for the emergency treatment of anaphylaxis (an acute allergic reaction to an antigen). For every child with allergies, even when there is an allergen surrounding in an area, the EpiPen is life-saving until someone can get to the nearby hospital. As the price hike is going on the week before the new school year starts, there are many articles circulating Google from schools and parents about how an EpiPen is too expensive/how it would make an impact. The EpiPen price hike might not have made it as a trending topic on Facebook or Twitter, but there are surely a lot of people talking about it through sharing of articles and posting pictures relating with the issue.

According to an article from Fortune called “How Mylan Got Away With Its Enormous Price Hike for the EpiPen," it does mention how the price for an EpiPen has been ballooning since 2008, going from a list price of $100 to $500. Ever since the escalation of the price for the EpiPen, there have been discounts offered to cover part of the cost for an EpiPen, but it really is not enough to cover the full price. Since the controversy is not just about how Mylan is benefiting from the price hike of EpiPens, there are schools and parents to think about as well.

For every school year, parents not only need to worry about necessary supplies and textbooks, but they also need to worry about buying a pack of EpiPens for their child to drop off at a nurses’ office in the case an allergy reaction occurs. The article “Schools await impact of EpiPen price hike" does give off the impression of how the schools may not be worried yet about this controversy. It is odd because at the beginning of the new school year, parents choose to drop off necessary medication at the nurse’s office should the need arise for them, and this includes the EpiPen. The article also mentions how the drug that is found in the EpiPen is very cheap and costs less than $5. Mylan may be offering a $300 discount for the EpiPen, but there is a monopoly occurring from continuously raising the price.

There is more of a concern coming from parents of children with serious allergies. This can be easily relatable because no matter what we need at the moment, we are stuck in consideration of what is needed more. In the article "Mother Calls EpiPen Price Hike 'A Matter Of Life And Death’," there is a concern from a mother who is concerned about how she would be able to afford a pack of EpiPens with the price continuously raising. Even though the article has two sentences from a mother herself at the beginning of the article, the whole controversy seem to be another “he said, she said” scenario. There is one side blaming the company, Mylan, for increasing the price for EpiPens and another side is blaming the government as insurance wouldn’t fully cover the payment for the injectors. Although the article does mention that EpiPen is offering a $300 coupon, it honestly is still far too expensive to make a purchase.

Even though I am somewhat in a similar situation due to needing the approval for a new wheelchair, this really is not fair to every parent, including mine, who has to constantly pay a high price for EpiPens so their child can be okay. With a slim chance of an allergy reaction happening, you honestly never know what could happen and the EpiPen can be life-saving during an unexpected time.