Mandate lowers financial barrier to lifesaving treatment of diabetes
BY: TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids recoiled at evidence people with diabetes in the United States paid up to five times more for insulin than patients in other countries.
She was troubled insulin-producing manufacturers Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk had systematically increased prices in the United States over the past two decades to levels that meant her constituents in the 3rd District around Kansas City risked serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and blindness. She said Kansans were rationing their supply of medication regulating blood-sugar levels or ending the treatment entirely.
“For too long,” Davids said, “Kansans have been forced to pay extremely high prices for insulin while drug companies rake in massive profits.”
The federal government also grappled with skyrocketing costs of insulin for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, she said.
That led the Democrat to support passage one year ago of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included provisions making health care more affordable for seniors. At the start of this year, the federal law capped the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for people enrolled in Medicare’s prescription drug plan at $35 for a one-month supply. It also imposed a requirement insulin manufacturers pay a rebate to Medicare if their prices grew faster than inflation.
Under pressure from consumers eager for an affordable supply of insulin, the three drug companies dominating the U.S. market agreed to extend the $35 cap to people with private health insurance.
Had the Inflation Reduction Act been in place in 2020, about 15,000 Kansas residents would have saved an estimated $650 annually on out-of-pocket costs.
Davids, the Kansas congressional delegation’s lone Democrat, went against the grain of Republicans from Kansas who opposed the bill signed in August 2022 by President Joe Biden. U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall voted against the bill along with U.S. Reps. Ron Estes, Tracey Mann and Jake LaTurner.
At that time, LaTurner objected because the massive federal spending package was oriented to support Democrats’ “radical agenda under the guise of lowering inflation.” He said $700 billion earmarked for the law would implement liberal environmental policy, make it harder for businesses to create jobs and prompt tax increases.
Marshall said he anticipated the law would help push the nation’s economy into recession, while Moran urged Congress to concentrate on lowering fuel prices and the cost of other goods and services for Kansans battered by inflation.
“Rather than taking steps to curb spending and expand energy production, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will raise taxes on small businesses and working families,” Moran said.
At the one-year mark, Davids said the law held great promise for growing the U.S. economy and dealing with climate change. She said health care pieces of the law succeeded in lowering the burden on thousands of Kansans and illustrated the need to push ahead with mandates capping the price for all insulin users.
“I voted for this historic legislation to lower costs for Kansas families,” she said. “The law is lowering health care costs, growing the middle class with new clean energy and manufacturing jobs, and making the largest investment in the fight against climate change in our nation’s history.”