ATLANTA — There is a push to make insulin more affordable for diabetic patients. Sen. Raphael Warnock sat down with hospital leaders to discuss what can be done.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was in southwest Atlanta where Warnock explained the need to further cap out-of-pocket costs.
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He says more can be done even after some caps he helped add to legislation last year and the pharmaceutical companies already starting to lower costs on their own.
This impacts over a million diabetics here in Georgia.
Warnock sat down at a roundtable discussion with hospital administrators, administrators for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and diabetics who talked about the struggle to pay for their insulin.
“We cannot afford not to do it and we have to cover those who have no insurance as well,” Warnock said.
Warnock also got a tour of Southside Medical Center.
He says the cap of $35 a month for insulin for those Medicare users that he added to the Inflation Reduction Act last year doesn’t go far enough.
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He’s proposed bi-partisan legislation with a Republican colleague to cap the cost for everyone, the insured and uninsured.
In the last two months, the top three insulin manufacturers have announced plans to do just that, or drastically reduce costs without further political action.
The senator says that move was no accident.
“They see the handwriting on the wall. I would argue they’re lowering the cost is the direct result of my work,” Warnock said.
Capping insulin prices to just $35 or less can have a huge impact.
Some of those on the panel said costs for their treatments could be up to $500 a month and they were forced to ration insulin or buy it on the black market.
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