Today, nearly 2 million Americans are being held for ransom by pharmaceutical companies—without insulin, they’ll be dead in days. PAY OR DIE follows families on the receiving end of these ransom notes, revealing the harrowing reality of living with a chronic illness in the richest country in the world. The film tells the stories of a mother and daughter who struggle to rebuild their lives after losing their home due to choosing between paying rent and buying insulin, a young woman who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a Minnesota family whose 26-year-old son died from rationing his insulin and was thrust into the national spotlight. These stories lay bare the human cost of America’s insulin affordability crisis.

PAY OR DIE is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023.