The Society is one of the leading voices calling for US legislation to lower the cost and price of insulin. Our work has influenced the Biden Administration to prioritize this issue and the US Congress to develop legislative proposals.
Activities include:
- Insulin Affordability Legislation: On August 16, 2022, President Joseph R. Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes meaningful measures to make insulin more affordable. Among other things, the law will institute a $35/month cap on out-of-pocket costs of insulin for Medicare beneficiaries beginning in 2023. This is an important milestone in our advocacy efforts to make this lifesaving drug more affordable for people living with diabetes.
- Position Statement: The Society published a position statement on insulin affordability before the US Congress began working on the issue to share policy recommendations and instigate and influence legislative proposals.
- Testimony: Society member Alvin C. Powers, MD, testified before the Congress providing policy recommendations that resulted in legislative proposals in both the House of Representatives and US Senate.
- Congressional Meetings & Briefings: The Society conducted hundreds of congressional meetings to urge passage of bipartisan insulin affordability legislation. We also conducted several educational briefings for policy makers on the issue. Society Clinical Affairs Core Committee Chair Joshua Joseph, MD, addressed a congressional briefing to help policy makers understand how insulin affordability impacts racial and ethnic minorities and the role of social determinants of health in diabetes care and outcomes.
- White House Action: The Society met with the Biden Administration to make insulin affordability a priority. As a result, President Joe Biden talked about lowering the cost of insulin in his State of the Union speech and First Lady Jill Biden invited a boy with Type 1 diabetes to be her special guest at the speech to highlight this priority.
