The House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would limit cost-sharing for insulin under private health insurance and Medicare.
The vote was 232 (yes)-193 (no), with 12 Republican members joining their Democratic colleagues to pass the measure.
The Affordable Insulin Now Act would cap insulin prices at either $35 a month or 25% of an insurance plan's negotiated price, whichever is lower.
The legislation aims to take effect in 2023 regardless of whether a beneficiary has reached the annual out-of-pocket spending threshold and $35 beginning in 2024 for those who have not yet reached this threshold.
"This is a kitchen-table issue: Are people going to be able to pay their bills," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Thursday. "It paves the way for further action on prescription drugs."
"One in four Americans is forced to skip or ration insulin doses, and that's life-threatening," she said, noting the legislation.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said lawmakers should work on alternative legislation that caps insulin costs at $50 a month and requires more transparency from the intermediaries that negotiate pricing with pharmaceutical companies and drugstores, among other steps, writes Wall Street Journal.
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