Shaheen in New Video: My Bipartisan INSULIN Act Represents One Immediate Step We Can Take to Address Health Care Affordability

**Shaheen champions bipartisan legislation cosponsored by seven Senators from each party to cap the monthly out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35** (Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate Diabetes Caucus , today published a new video discussing how her bipartisan INSULIN Act addresses Americans’ overwhelming health care affordability concerns. Shaheen’s bipartisan INSULIN Act enjoys support from seven Senators from each party. Click HERE to watch the full video. Key quotes from Shaheen: “Talk to neighbors at the grocery store, family members at the dinner table or just turn on the TV at night, and you'll hear it: Everything is too expensive. For too many Americans, that's especially true for health care costs. [...] It is long past time for elected leaders in Washington to do something about it.” “Roughly eight million Americans with diabetes need insulin just to stay alive, but too many are struggling to keep up with their bills. The cost of insulin forces one in five Americans with diabetes to ration their medicine – to choose between daily medicine they need. That is totally unacceptable in the richest country on earth.” “My bipartisan INSULIN Act represents one immediate step we can take to address health care affordability – capping costs at $35 a month. Congress has already done this for Americans on Medicare, and now it's time to lower the price for people with other health insurance.” “Momentum is growing in Congress, but we don’t have any time to waste. With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet, this is our chance to deliver on their concerns in a bipartisan way.” The Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act would cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Americans on private and employer insurance and create a pilot program to provide insulin at the same cost to Americans without insurance. The INSULIN Act addresses the root problems in the insulin market causing high list prices, while simultaneously extending vital patient protections, fostering competition and broadening access to needed insulin products. Specifically, the INSULIN Act : Limits out-of-pocket costs for patients with diabetes by ensuring that group and individual market health plans must waive any deductible and limit cost-sharing to no more than $35 or 25% of list price per month for at least one insulin of each type and dosage form. Mandates pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) pass through 100% of insulin rebates and other discounts received from manufacturers to plan sponsors, reducing perverse incentives in the insulin market that encourage high list prices and help patients in the form of reduced premiums. Promotes generic and biosimilar competition to lower costs for patients. Creates a pilot grant program for 10 states to implement programs to identify uninsured diabetes patients and provide them with insulin at $35 a month. Establishes an insulin resource center and hotline for uninsured diabetes patients to connect them with resources about diabetes and programs to help them secure insulin. The bipartisan legislation is supported by the American Diabetes Association, Breakthrough T1D, the Endocrine Society, the National Kidney Foundation and others. ###