Republicans block insulin price caps in the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act. Why? Follow the money.
Republican senators voted down a cap on the price of insulin in the private market, removing it from Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats had tried to preserve the provision to cap insulin costs at $35 for private insurers, but that vote failed due to Republican opposition. The legislation, however, still includes a $35 copay cap on the price of insulin for people 65 and older on Medicare. - NBC
"This is a kitchen-table issue. One in four Americans is forced to skip or ration doses of insulin and that's life-threatening. No one should have to choose between taking their medication as prescribed and putting food on the table or a roof over their head", said Nancy Pelosi (NPR)
Why would Republicans block a measure that would help millions of Americans? Follow the money from Big Pharma to Republicans to see why you pay so much for drugs.
Corporate greed is a fatal condition
Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi make a killing from raising insulin prices. (Pun intended). Follow the blood money that Big Pharma pays Republicans to block measure to reduce the cost of insulin with this PowerMap. (What is blood money? Money obtained at the cost of another's life. - Merriam Webster Dictionary)
- How many diabetics and people without health insurance there per county.
- Average insulin price: $280/vial
- How Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi control the $22 billion U.S. insulin market
- Multi-million CEO salaries for insulin drug maker CEOs
- How drug barons spend $29 billion on political donations through PhRMA drug association
- Pharmaceuticals/Health Products lobbying expense in 2021 : $353,940,426
- Which Republicans got the most donations from PhRMA in 2020
- How John Robert's opened the floodgates to dark money in politics with Citizens United
- How to contact Senators to demand they support the new bill to limit insulin to $30/month
- How Reclaim Democracy fights for fair voting rights to lower the cost of drugs
Follow the insulin blood money
Diabetics struggle with high insulin prices
More than 1 in 5 insulin users on private medical insurance pay more than $35 per month for the medicine, according to a recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Some 7 million Americans require insulin daily. A Yale University study found that 14 percent of those insulin users are spending more than 40 percent of their income after food and housing costs on the medicine.
“The cost of insulin isn’t just out of control, it is devastating people," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said on the Senate floor, imploring the GOP not to strip the price cap from the bill. "This should not be a hard vote to cast.” - Washington Post
WATCH THE 1 MIN VIDEO VERSION SET TO 'MONEY, MONEY, MONEY'
“Senate Republicans are working hand in hand with their Big Pharma allies to oppose lowering the costs of medicine like insulin — all so that the GOP’s corporate backers can continue making record profits at hard working Americans’ expense. While Democrats are fighting to lower the costs of healthcare, Republicans are looking out for the rich, the powerful and big corporations who profit by making Americans pay higher prices — and in 2022 voters will hold every GOP Senate candidate accountable.” - DSCC
Use this map to see who will suffer from Republican pandering to corporate greed.
Who suffers from high insulin prices?
Vote to lower the cost of prescription drugs
Prices for insulin in America doubled between 2012 and 2016. Democrats in the House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve legislation that would limit cost-sharing for insulin under private health insurance and Medicare. The Affordable Insulin Now Act caps insulin prices at either $35 a month or 25% of an insurance plan's negotiated price — whichever is lower.
“Republicans have just gone on the record in favor of expensive insulin,” Wyden said in a statement. “After years of tough talk about taking on insulin makers, Republicans have once against wilted in the face of heat from Big Pharma." - NBC
What you can do to lower prices
Make a direct connection between high insulin prices, voting and pharma donations to Republicans to block insulin price caps. This dashboard designed with ArcGIS Online with CDC data.
- Click on a county and immediately see the number of people suffering from diabetes and affected by high insulin prices.
- Click forward to see the Senators who are supposed to represent that area and how to contact them.
- Click on the links in the side panel to understand why the price of insulin is eight times more in America than Canada.
- What is in the Democratic "Affordable Insulin Now Act"?
- Who are the top 20 Republicans owned by Big Pharma?
- Register to vote and learn about Voter ID laws with Rock The Vote
Corporate greed out of control
34 million American diabetics
- WHO SUFFERS THE MOST? "Rising insulin spending poses a potentially major access challenge for the over 34 million Americans with diabetes. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations and that these populations receive relatively worse quality of diabetes care."
- HOW MANY PEOPLE IN THE U.S. USE INSULIN? Roughly 8.4 million Americans use insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association. Not everyone who has diabetes needs insulin, but for those who do, it's an important medication. For more than 1 million of those people with type 1 diabetes, regular access to the medication is a necessity and they will die without it.
- HOW EXPENSIVE IS INSULIN? - Some people on private insurance pay hundreds of dollars monthly for the drug. For most Medicare beneficiaries, the average out-of-pocket cost per insulin prescription was $54 in 2020.
- WHY IS INSULIN SO EXPENSIVE? Only three manufacturers — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — produce insulin, allowing those companies to control much of the market. “They’ve been historically raising their list prices for their respective products in lockstep with one another,” Dr. Jing Luo, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said. “There hasn’t been a lot of pricing pressure.” - ABC
TakeAway: Corporate greed is a fatal condition. Vote Democrat to lower drug prices.
Deepak
DemLabs
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