I was two years old the first time I almost died. After eating a peanut butter cracker at daycare, my body went into complete anaphylactic shock, and I began to suffocate. This has happened nearly a dozen times since then. My allergies are so severe even a trace amount of peanut butter can kill me – quickly.

I am alive because epinephrine – the active ingredient in an EpiPen – can quickly reverse a reaction and force open my airways. I don’t leave the house without an EpiPen. Though I’ve gotten used to it, always keeping track of medication is a huge responsibility, especially for the 5.6 million kids in the U.S. with food allergies. As a kid, I remember my parents scolding me when I lost an EpiPen because of how expensive they were. Back then, the cost was around $50.

Things changed when Mylan Pharmaceuticals acquired EpiPen in 2007. Mylan knew the EpiPen had become to allergies what Kleenex is to tissues: a brand synonymous with a product. It swiftly increased EpiPen prices from around $50 to nearly $700 for two – now only sold in two-packs. A year’s worth of EpiPens – 4 to 6 per person – costs between $1,200 to $1,800. Let’s be clear: nothing about the medication changed. EpiPens, which have been around since the 1970s, cost around $8 to manufacture, and their active ingredient costs just pennies to make.

Big Pharma saw an opportunity to extract profits off the backs of everyday Americans like me who can’t leave home without our life-saving medications.

How many families have made the choice between getting life-saving medication for their kids, paying rent and putting food on the table? How many lives have been forever altered when families made this impossible trade-off?

Because of Mylan’s price hike, I’ve made the decision to either go without an EpiPen or use one that is expired. Not long after nearly dying from a taste of a soup thickened with peanut butter that required two EpiPens to overcome, I drove up to a Walgreens on Speer Boulevard in Denver to fill my EpiPen prescription. The pharmacist told me I owed them $600 dollars even though I had insurance. I paused for a second in complete shock and then said: “Thank you. Never mind.” I drove away without the prescription. I wasn’t prepared to spend $600 dollars on a prescription, even if it might save my life.

Maybe because I’m stubborn, I went back to the same pharmacy three weeks later, still in disbelief a $600 co-pay could be correct. But this time, I was ready to pay the price. When I shared my disbelief (and anger) about the cost, a different pharmacist showed me an online coupon that brought the cost down below $100. It was a stroke of good luck. But our health care system should not run on good luck and coupons.

Big Pharma makes outrageous profits at the expense of people’s lives. In this case, potentially at the expense of my life. This is why I strongly support legislation introduced this week by State Sen. Dylan Roberts, State Rep. Javier Mabrey, and State Rep. Iman Jodeh that would cap the cost of EpiPens at $60 per two-pack and create an affordability program for low-income families. With this legislation in place, a year’s supply of EpiPens for people with severe food allergies like me would cost $120-$180 instead of more than what some pay in rent.

If passed, virtually every Coloradan with a severe allergy or asthma will be able to affordably access an EpiPen.

This is a kitchen table issue: it is predatory to allow a multi-billion dollar company like Mylan to enrich shareholders by extracting hard-earned money from people with severe allergies who have no choice but to pay exorbitant costs for the lifesaving medicine. We deserve affordable access to EpiPens, and I hope the Colorado State Legislature does the right thing by swiftly passing this bill. 

Sam Gilman is co-founder & president of the Community Economic Defense Project.