House Passes Bill to Limit Cost of Insulin to $35 a Month

The pharmaceutical industry opposed drug price controls in social spending and climate legislation. But it did not oppose the insulin bill openly. While the bill will lower costs for many patients who take insulin. It will do nothing to reduce the prices paid to the companies that make it. Instead, insurance companies will pay a larger share of the price. Congressional Budget Office rated that the bill would increase government spending as health insurance companies, including Medicare, would bear a larger share of the cost of insulin.

But the cost of consumer insulin has become a major political issue given. The prevalence of diabetes in the United States. It is relatively easier to address than prescription drug prices in general. At a White House event in December, President Biden focused his prescription drug speech on the cost of insulin.

“I think it’s safe to say that all of us, all of us, regardless of our background, our ag. Where we live, we can agree that prescription drugs are costly in this country. Biden said at an event where diabetic patients told their stories of struggles to afford medication.

The debate over broader legislation has slowed but not abated. A West Virginia Democrat and a vital supporter of the centrist resistance. Senator Joe Manchin III expressed support for the prescription drug bill’s provisions even. He was more skeptical of other parts of the package.

At her weekly press conference on Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California attempted to present the passage of the insulin bill as an advance on the party’s broader drug pricing plan. She described insulin prices as a “kitchen table problem.”

“This is a step for us to enable the Secretary to negotiate lower prices for medicines other than insulin,” she added, referring to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, and chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,, and Pensions, co-sponsored a similar insulin bill in her House. She said she remains committed to a full range of prescription drug price reforms but sees the insulin issue particularly pressing.

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