U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) – Co-Chairs of the Senate Diabetes Caucus – announced their new bipartisan legislation, the ‘Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act’, to lower the skyrocketing costs of insulin.
The new legislation builds on Collins’ and Shaheen’s previous efforts, increasing measures to encourage insulin manufacturers to reduce list prices, while extending patient protections that will foster competition and broader access to desperately needed insulin products.
More than 37 million Americans live with diabetes and medical costs for Americans with diabetes are more than double those incurred by individuals without diabetes.
Insulin is one of the most expensive categories of drugs purchased by private and government health care payers. The rising cost of insulin presents a barrier to care for a growing number of Americans with diabetes. Out-of-pocket costs increase with list prices, and for people without insurance, the costs are untenable.
The Act is now in limbo with supporters hoping it will be resurrected in October, or during the ‘lame-suck’ session in December that falls between the elections in November and the beginning of the new Congress.