“I just can’t be more thrilled about this:” House passes bill to cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35

DELMARVA- Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Insulin Now Act that would cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for insured patients.

“I just can’t be more thrilled about this, this is such a long time coming,” Karan Bealla, pharmacist at Atlantic General Hospital, said.

“For people on insulin, the cost of insulin is in a lot of ways outrageous,” Matthew Balish, pharmacist at Apple Discount Drugs, said.

Pharmacists we spoke with said this could save their patients a lot of money, as the cost of insulin tends to go up every year.

“There’s a battle between manufacturers to get their preferred drug on that list and there’s back and forth and in order to give rebates they raised the cost of the product, which drives the cost up for everyone,” Balish said.

Balish said it’s not uncommon for one vile of insulin to cost somewhere around $300.

“If you have really good insurance, you might pay $10 for your insulin, if you have average insurance you again might be in the $60-$70 range and it’s been pretty consistent,” Balish said. “Now, if you have a high deductible insurance plan you could be looking at hundreds of dollars a month.”

The high costs then force some patients to make tough decisions.

“Every pharmacy that has existed in the retail world has seen that patient that has to decide food or medication,” Bealla said.

“There have been stories in the New York Times where diabetics have been rationing their insulin because they cant afford it and their have been cases where people have died because of that,” Balish said.

A pharmacist with Atlantic General Hospital said seeing this bill pass the House gives her hope, especially because it could provide relief for medicare enrollees.

“They are the people that they say I get my social security check and its maybe a $1000 and I’m about to tell them at the register their insulin is going to cost $400,” Bealla said.

And, while capping the monthly cost of insulin could be save some people money, pharmacists just hope the costs don’t spill into other services their patients need.

If this bill is signed into law, it would take effect in 2023; and the bill would not help the uninsured.