Shaheen presses Senate to cap insulin costs

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is pressing Senate leadership to hold a floor vote on bipartisan legislation to cap insulin costs in private insurance before lawmakers leave town until after the midterm election.

“President Trump campaigned on immediately lowering costs for the American people, yet he’s done just the opposite. With millions of American families facing spiking prices as a result of this Administration’s disastrous health care policies, my INSULIN Act is one immediate step Congress can take to directly lower costs for millions of Americans,” Shaheen said in a statement Monday.

The veteran lawmaker is retiring and wants to get the legislation across the finish line before the end of the year. Shaheen has also personally spoken to the White House about the measure, and staff-level conversations have been ongoing since, according to a Democratic aide.

The legislation would out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 for people with commercial insurance, expanding a cap for people on Medicare that passed in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. It would also create a pilot program in 10 states to cap costs for uninsured people.

The bill, which is led by Shaheen, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Kennedy (R-La.). passed the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee by a vote of 17-5 in July . In total, it has 28 co-sponsors divided equally between the parties — meaning there are 60 votes in the Senate if all Democrats vote for it.

While the effort likely won’t yield a vote this week, the most likely path forward would be including the measure as part of a year-end spending bill. Discussions are also happening about attaching the measure to the must-pass defense policy and spending authorization bill.

A bipartisan House version was introduced earlier this month by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.). Miller-Meeks and Bresnahan face competitive reelection races.

There’s no guarantee the measure will pass. Lawmakers have discussed the idea of an insulin cap for years but haven’t been able to get legislation over the finish line over GOP resistance to government setting prices.

Notably, HELP committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) voted against the bill, arguing it created an unnecessary and duplicative government grant program.

Cassidy noted many community health centers already provide deeply discounted insulin to patients who need it and criticized the federal drug pricing program that he says hospitals are abusing.

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