The Iowa House has voted to establish a limit on the co-payment insurance companies require to fill a prescription for insulin. Representative Ann Meyer, a registered nurse from Fort Dodge, says it’s a $100 cap.
“The cap applies to each individual prescription and allows for an entire month of insulin,” Meyer says.
People with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes must take insulin to control their blood sugar levels, but the cost of insulin has doubled in the past eight years. Representative Lindsay James of Dubuque says it’s become so expensive, some patients are rationing their insulin or don’t have the money to pay for it at all.
“Family members and friends should never be forced to stand at the grave site of their loved one because companies are protecting their bottom line,” James says, “and yet this is exactly what it happening.”
The bill has no groups or businesses registered to lobby against it. Colorado and Illinois are the only states that currently have a co-payment limit on monthly insulin purchases and it’s $100. Last week, the Virginia legislature voted for a $50-a-month price cap and New Mexico’s legislature vote to establish a monthly co-pay cap of $25. Neither has been signed yet by the governors of those states.