Senate Democrats are attempting to rein in the price of insulin through their social spending bill, which will raise $739 billion in tax revenues.
The price of the 100-year-old drug has tripled over the last two decades, forcing diabetics to pay thousands of dollars a year or ration supplies.
As more Americans use the treatment, the price of insulin may increase as more Americans use it.
According to the American Diabetes Association, about 11% of Americans have diabetes. There are approximately 8.4 million people who use insulin and for one million of them, the drug is lifesaving.
People need insulin, but it's not an option and nobody should have to decide between life-sustaining medication or food and rent, according to Robert Gabbay, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association.
The cost of insulin varies depending on healthcare coverage.
People with private health insurance could potentially pay hundreds of dollars a month. Medicare beneficiaries pay $54 per prescription. The copay for a 30 day supply has been capped between $25 and $100 in 22 states, according to the Associated Press.
Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisck and Sanofi are the only insulin manufacturers that allow them to control much of the market.
Dr. Jing Luo, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, told the Associated Press that they've been historically raising their list prices for their respective products in lockstep with one another. There hasn't been a lot of pricing pressure. A generic drug for insulin hasn't been produced yet due to regulatory hurdles and questions over drug classification, according to Luo.
Multiple attempts to lower the price of insulin have failed in the Senate. In the Build Back Better bill, Democrats tried to cap the price of insulin at $35. Sens. The bill will reduce the cost of insulin by $35 per month, co-sponsored by Susan Collins and Jeanne Shaheen.
If your health insurance company says no one who purchases insulin in your plan will have to pay more than $25, the question is who is paying the balance of that? That means that their cost will go up, which means they'll raise premiums on everyone.