Shaheen Announces 2 New Cosponsors of Bipartisan Bill to Cap Monthly Insulin Costs at $35, Bringing Total to 24 Bipartisan Senators

Shaheen Announces 2 New Cosponsors of Bipartisan Bill to Cap Monthly Insulin Costs at $35, Bringing Total to 24 Bipartisan Senators **Twelve Senators from each party now cosponsor the Shaheen-led bill to lower insulin costs for Americans with and without insurance** (Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) today announced two new cosponsors of the bipartisan INSULIN Act that would make life more affordable for Americans living with diabetes, bringing the total to 24 bipartisan Senators and representing nearly 1/4 of the Senate. U.S. Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) are backing the bipartisan bill led by Diabetes Caucus Co-Chairs Senators Shaheen and Susan Collins (R-ME), as well as Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and John Kennedy (R-LA). The Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act would cap the monthly out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 for Americans on private and employer-sponsored insurance and create a pilot program to provide insulin at the same cost to Americans without insurance. In addition to Shaheen, Collins, Warnock, Kennedy, Hyde-Smith and Cortez Masto, the legislation is supported by U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Angus King (I-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Katie Britt (R-AL), Chris Coons (D-DE), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jim Justice (R-WV), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD). The push to cap the monthly cost of insulin comes as the cost of health care continues to top Americans’ affordability concerns . The INSULIN Act would directly address 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 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. ###