The Republican-led Senate Health Committee voted Wednesday to advance legislation over the objection of its chair to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for diabetes patients on private insurance.
One of the chief sponsors of the INSULIN Act is Maine Republican Susan Collins, who Democrats are banking on beating in November in order to regain control of the chamber.
Collins immediately touted the bill’s committee approval in a statement, saying that it showed how effective she is at working with Democrats. “Too many patients struggling to afford lifesaving insulin,” she said. “I will keep working across the aisle to lower costs, strengthen Maine’s health care workforce, and help better ensure that people in every part of our state can access quality, affordable care close to home.”
About 12 percent of Americans and 10 percent of Mainers have diabetes, a chronic condition marked by high blood sugar levels that damage blood vessels and nerves. Patients often need regular insulin injections to convert blood sugar into energy.
The measure was approved 17-5 with the panel’s 11 Democrats joined by six Republicans. Five Republicans voted no, including Chair Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a highly unusual outcome.
But the backing of six Republicans showed how much the GOP has shifted in the Trump era in its willingness to pressure businesses to cut prices and even use the power of government to force companies to do so.
Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is the lead Democrat on the bill. Its 28 co-sponsors are nearly evenly divided between the parties.
If enacted — still a long shot without a House companion bill — the legislation would create the first nationwide out-of-pocket cost cap on private insurance plans for a drug that isn’t preventive medicine. But the real impact would be more muted because many insurers already charge $35 or less for insulin.
“This legislation may need more refinement and may encounter policy and procedural hurdles beyond this committee,” Cassidy said.
The committee stripped out a provision to create a pilot program to offer the capped prices to uninsured patients before a successful amendment from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to add it back in. All Democrats and Collins voted for Baldwin’s amendment. Uninsured patients can currently buy insulin on President Donald Trump’s direct-to-consumer site, TrumpRx, for $35 or less.
Medicare’s prescription drug program also has a $35 cap because of a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, which a Democratic Congress and then-President Joe Biden enacted in 2022 without any Republican support.
Lauren Gardner contributed to this report.
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