The pharmacist informed him that his insurance would no longer cover his inhaler. The new cost: $539. No alternative options were suggested. Cole left the pharmacy, choosing to pay his rent instead of buying the medication—and five days later, he suffered a fatal asthma attack. 
Cole Schmidtknecht, 22, from Appleton, had lived with chronic asthma since birth. He had been controlling the condition with a daily Advair Diskus inhaler that cost about $66 a month through his employer’s insurance. On January 10, 2024, Walgreens informed him that his insurance no longer covered the medication. The new price was $539, and no substitute was offered.
Cole left without the inhaler and relied on an old rescue inhaler instead. Five days later, he experienced a severe asthma attack. His roommate rushed him toward the emergency room, but his heart stopped before they arrived. He never regained consciousness and was declared dead on January 21 after spending six days on a ventilator.
His family later filed a lawsuit against Walgreens and OptumRx, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, claiming the sudden price increase violated Wisconsin law and that he was given neither advance notice nor an affordable option. Months afterward, inhaler manufacturers introduced caps limiting out-of-pocket inhaler costs to $35.