The original article is pushing the narrative that those new, fancy insulins "offered minimal benefits" compared to that older insulin, that they're just prescribed because of "aggressive marketing campaigns" by the evil big pharma, and that this is what's pushing up insulin prices. The fact that you can buy the older stuff off the shelf with no prescription for $25 is definitely a problem for its narrative, and the fact that there are genuine disadvantages to doing so is an even bigger one.
The newer insulins are definitely better. Just the fact that they act faster allows one to take insulin reactively (blood is high, take a bit of insulin to bring it down). This is a large QOL boost in that it allows more flexibility in eating.
