Shaheen makes last-minute push on insulin prices before Senate career comes to a close

In the twilight of her congressional career, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is making a last minute push for what has been a personal crusade for New Hampshire’s Democratic senior senator: lower insulin prices.

Shaheen is stepping down from the Senate when her term ends in January, but in the months she has left, she’s prioritized the INSULIN Act, which would cap the monthly out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $35. Shaheen, who has a granddaughter with type 1 diabetes, is the lead sponsor, but the bill has become bipartisan with 15 Senate Republicans signing on. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension has advanced it, but it has yet to receive a floor vote. A version of the bill has also been introduced in the House.

“This is not only the right thing to do,” Shaheen said to a recent panel of health experts in Nashua, “but it’s an opportunity for us to provide some relief for so many families who are really struggling with high costs.”

Rising costs for medical insulin, which replicates a natural hormone in the body that moves glucose through a person’s blood, has become a major issue for diabetes patients who need the drug to survive. According to the Health Care Cost Institute, the average price of a 30-day supply of insulin in the U.S. rose 184% from $271 in 2012 to $499 in 2021. Amid these rising costs, the issue has become increasingly bipartisan as Republicans, who have historically cited free market principles to oppose price caps, come around.

“I don’t know why it should divide Republicans,” Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, told POLITICO. “Who is in favor of allowing these pharma companies to rip off people with high insulin prices when there is no supply issue or production issue?”

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Shaheen’s bill is the latest attempt to tackle the high prices. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act instituted the same $35 monthly out-of-pocket cap on insulin for Medicare patients. The INSULIN Act aims to extend that cap to those with private insurance as well as launch a pilot program in 10 states that caps the price of insulin for uninsured patients. Additionally, 29 states, including New Hampshire, have instituted price caps on the state level. In 2020, New Hampshire lawmakers capped the price of a 30-day supply at $30 for those with state-regulated commercial insurance. The caps come from liberal leaning states like New York, Illinois, and California, as well as conservative ones like Texas, Alabama, and West Virginia.

Earlier this month, Shaheen heard from experts, advocates, and patients on the issue at Lamprey Health, including Auburn teenager Portia Joy.

“It’s just really overwhelming to have to think about living with this disease for the rest of my life,” Portia, 17, said, “and contemplating if I’m going to be able to afford the medicine that I need to live.”

Asked how confident she was that she and her colleagues could get the INSULIN Act signed into law, Shaheen said, “you never know.”