Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar shared that her aunt died of “diabetic shock” in Somalia when she was 21 years old because she did not have access to medication, and said the fact that this sort of tragedy can happen in a country as wealthy as the United States is a “mark of shame.”

“There are people in the developing world who are dying because they don’t have access to health care or they don’t have access to medicine. My aunt was one of those people,” said Omar, whose family resettled in Minnesota as refugees after fleeing the civil war in their native Somalia.

Omar’s aunt died within days of her diagnosis.

“It is a mark of shame that in the wealthiest country in the world people are dying because they can’t afford lifesaving medicine,”  the 5th District Democrat added in a statement. 

Omar was among the House and Senate Democrats at a news conference Thursday to introduce a new suite of bills to curb drug costs. 

The three-part plan, championed by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, would allow the government to negotiate prices with manufacturers under the Medicare Part D drug program, set drug prices based on the median price of five other wealthy countries and authorize importing drugs from Canada.

Omar likened her aunt’s story to the death of a Twin Cities resident.

Alec Raeshawn Smith died of diabetic ketoacidosis when he was 26 years old, just months after aging out of his mother’s insurance plan. His mother, Nicole Smith-Holt, found receipts for insulin and blood sugar testing supplies in his car totaling $1,300 per month, and concluded her son had been rationing his insulin supply until his next paycheck.

Smith’s name has become a rallying cry for health care advocates pushing the pharmaceutical industry and lawmakers to lower the cost of essential medicines.

“Last year in Minnesota when I heard about Alec, who was 26 and died because he could not access insulin to save his life, it did not make any sense to me,” Omar said.

My aunt died of diabetic shock at the age of 21 because she didn’t have access to medication. It is a mark of shame that in the wealthiest country the world people are dying because they can’t afford lifesaving medicine. pic.twitter.com/VW8PW733nS

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) January 10, 2019

The news conference Thursday coincided with fresh price hikes by Sanofi and Novo Nordisk — two of the “big three” drug manufacturers that dominate the market for insulin.

Both drugmakers will tack on an increase of roughly 5 percent to the list price of a dose, which varies from just under $300 to $400, the Financial Times reported.

T1International — an advocacy group that campaigns for lower drug prices with Smith-Holt — decried the new surcharges in a statement Thursday.

“Once again, shareholder profits will be increased on the backs of people with diabetes,” the advocacy group said.

Of the trio of bills on pharmaceutical pricing introduced Thursday, importing lower-cost drugs from other countries could draw bipartisan and bicameral support because an influential Republican senator, Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, has released his own drug importation draft bill.

Omar described the legislation on drug pricing as “just the first step” on a path to a Medicare for all single payer health care system.

Andrew Siddons contributed to this report.Watch: Criticizing Trump, Pelosi highlights the president’s walkout in weekly press briefing