Minnesota diabetics turn to underground network to avoid high drug costs The health insurance system in the US today is a complicated one. While the majority of Americans benefit from plans paid for primarily by their employer or through public subsidies, many still are forced to pay for a plan entirely out of pocket. And medications here can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a month on top of that, which drug companies say helps fund research and development. The issue is front and center among the diabetic community in Minnesota, where costs have gotten so high, that people fighting the disease here have had to rely on unconventional - and sometimes illegal - methods to get the medicine that keeps them alive. A NATURAL SOUND VERSION OF AN AFPTV REPORT