Five days before 22-year-old Cole Schmidtknecht suffered a fatal asthma attack, a pharmacist informed him that the price of his inhaler had unexpectedly increased by 700%, a shocking price hike that forced him to leave without the prescription that could have saved his life.
Although Cole was insured, the Advair Diskus inhaler that had formerly cost less than $70, had spiked to over $500 — a surprise expense that was financially out of reach, NBC News reported. The short-acting rescue inhaler Cole was able to afford wasn't enough to counter the severe asthma attack that led to his death on January 21, 2024.
