Senator Tina Smith continues efforts to resolve insulin crisis

This week, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) introduced another piece of bipartisan legislation in the ongoing efforts to bring down the cost of insulin for patients who need this life-sustaining medication.
 
This is the second bipartisan bill that Smith and Cramer have introduced related to this issue. In June 2019, they introduced the Emergency Access to Insulin Act, which, if passed, would establish state insulin assistance programs to provide a short-term insulin supply for uninsured and underinsured patients. This summer’s legislation would also impose a penalty on insulin manufacturers to hold them accountable for increasing insulin prices beyond inflation. Funds from manufacturers would be used to set up these state insulin assistance programs.
 
Smith and Cramer are still working to get the Emergency Access to Insulin Act passed. Learn more about the bill here.

While working to pass that legislation, Smith and Cramer have proposed a new bill, the Insulin Affordability Data Collection Act.  This bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) to conduct a study that examines the impact of the affordability of insulin on individuals who are insulin-dependent. 
 
Under this legislation, ASPE would be required to submit this report to Congress within two years of enactment.
 
WTIP’s Rhonda Silence spoke with Senator Smith on November 14, 2019, World Diabetes Day about this latest legislation.