On May 10, a dozen or so diabetics gathered in the shade on the steps of the U.S. Senate Hart Building to hear testimony about the price of prescription drugs, with a focus on insulin, at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (the HELP Committee), Jacobin.com reported. The CEOs of all three major insulin manufacturers (Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk), as well as executives from the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), were inside, preparing to testify about the cost of insulin and other drugs. Due to a decade-long fight to protest price gouging and raise awareness, insulin has become a centerpiece in the fight for universal health care. Over the past three years, 22 states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws capping the co-pays that insurers can charge patients for insulin prescriptions. With the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act this year, seniors on Medicare have had their insulin co-pays capped to $35 a month per prescription, drugmakers will be penalized for overcharging for prescriptions filled through Medicaid, and diabetics on certain high-deductible plans now pay less for insulin before their deductibles are met. Most notably, the hearing took place a month after all three major insulin-producers announced expansions to their coupon programs and price reductions on some of their insulins. Yet far too many diabetics still lack access to affordable insulin. As of May 2023, only one brand of insulin — Eli Lilly’s Lispro — has actually seen its price reduced. According to ongoing research by the nonprofit T1International, no respondent to its survey was able to access the low-price insulin before the hearing took place.
