Diabetes advocates cross their fingers as a bipartisan bill revives
efforts to lower insulin costs
[April 02, 2026]
By ALI SWENSON
NEW YORK (AP) — Two-year-old Bain Brandon has Type 1 diabetes and needs
insulin to live. But even with health insurance, the price tag isn’t
cheap.
A one-month supply of insulin vials and a three-month supply of backup
pens for the Mississippi toddler cost his parents $194 last week,
according to his mom, 29-year-old Marlee Brandon. They can afford it
right now — but she worries about the future.
“One day, Bain will be an adult, and he won’t be able to be on our
insurance anymore,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people don’t realize
how much and how expensive it is.”
A bipartisan group of senators is aiming to relieve that cost burden
with the INSULIN Act, a bill to cap the cost of the lifesaving drug at
$35 per month for Americans with private insurance plans. The bill,
introduced last week by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-Maine, Raphael Warnock,
D-Ga., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and John Kennedy, R-La., would also start
a pilot program to provide more affordable insulin to uninsured
Americans in 10 states. A somewhat similar bill passed in 2022, as part
of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping package from
Democrats that successfully capped the drug at $35 per month for older
adults on Medicare.
The legislation, the latest in a long effort by some lawmakers of both
parties to rein in the price of insulin, faces many hurdles, including
concerns about the cost and other competing congressional priorities.
Still, with Trump in the White House and Congress now controlled by his
Republican Party, it creates an opportunity for a rare bipartisan
victory on health affordability in a year when rising health care cost
are a concern for voters of both parties.
Out-of-pocket costs for insulin, a vital drug for millions, vary
widely
About 8.1 million people in the U.S. use insulin, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That includes more than 2
million who have Type 1 diabetes and will die without regular access to
insulin. The drug also helps control glucose levels for people with
other types of diabetes.
But the price of insulin can vary widely. While some people with private
insurance pay zero or very little, others pay hundreds of dollars each
month on top of other costs for their diabetes, like pumps, blood
glucose sensors and other supplies.
In addition to the 2022 law lowering out-of-pocket costs on insulin for
Medicare beneficiaries, more than half of states in recent years have
passed their own insulin co-pay caps, ranging between $25 and $100 per
month for patients with state-regulated insurance plans.
Major insulin makers Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk also have moved
to cut the cost of insulin, with different combinations of cutting list
prices, capping out-of-pocket costs and expanding affordability.
Still, not all patients are covered. About 57% of Americans with private
health insurance have self-insured plans that states can’t regulate,
according to Matthew Fiedler, a senior fellow with the Center on Health
Policy at the Brookings Institution. That means they are left out of
state cost-cap bills. Some patients are also uninsured, or have
difficulty accessing manufacturers' cost savings programs.
“It puts the onus on the patient, I think, to try to navigate and get
the cost down,” said Dr. Leslie Eiland, an adult endocrinologist at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center, who is advocating with the
Endocrine Society for the latest bill.
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Packets of insulin vials and pens are warehoused at a Kaiser
warehouse in Downey, Calif., March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian
Dovarganes, file)
 Oliver Bogillot, Sanofi’s head of
general medicines for North America, said in a statement that “no
one should struggle to afford their insulin” and touted the
company’s savings program that includes people without health
insurance. Flavia Brakling, a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, said
expanding affordable access to medicine is a priority and noted the
company hasn't raised list prices for its insulin products for 2026.
Chanse Jones, a spokesperson for the leading trade association for
pharmaceutical companies, PhRMA, said pharmacy benefit managers and
insurers are creating access and affordability barriers for patients
even as manufacturers try to expand access.
“We look forward to working with policymakers to ensure middlemen
don’t stand between patients and their medicines,” he said.
Efforts to pass similar bills haven't succeeded
While the new INSULIN Act has bipartisan support, it would not be
the first time such legislation seemed to have momentum, only to
fail.
In 2022, the House passed a $35 monthly insulin cap that would have
applied to Americans with private insurance, but it didn’t pass the
Senate.
A similar attempt to include it in the Democrats’ Inflation
Reduction Act that year ultimately failed after Republicans opposed
it, saying it was attempted in a way that violated Senate rules.
Diabetes patients and advocates hold on to hope
Breana Glover, a 23-year-old restaurant server in Houston, moved to
Texas from California because she needed cheaper living expenses to
cover the high health costs associated with her Type 1 diabetes.
Paying for her insulin and other supplies is a balancing act. To
afford her $50 co-pay for four vials of insulin, she limits her
carbohydrate intake. That way, she can use less insulin each day and
make it last longer.
Glover said a $35 per month cap would be a “small step towards
everything becoming even more accessible,” in addition to helping
her cover items like groceries and gas.
Advocates expect the young adult population to especially benefit
from the bill, since many struggle to get high-quality health
insurance plans or any insurance at all if they aren't able to
access plans through parents, said Manny Hernandez, CEO of The
Diabetes Link, a national nonprofit for young adults with diabetes.
Hernandez said he was encouraged by recent meetings with Republican
members of Congress from his home state, Florida, but worries other
priorities will drown out the bill, as has happened in the past.
“There’s many distractions and there’s many important things going
on,” he said. “But I don’t lose hope.”
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