AARP Iowa Calls on Legislature to Cap Insulin Costs

ISSUE OVERVIEW

Over a quarter million Iowans have been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes. For thousands of these Iowans, insulin is an essential medication they cannot live without.

Insulin was invented more than 100 years ago and yet the costs for many Americans have increased more than 600 percent over the last 20 years. For more than 14% of people who use insulin in the U.S., insulin costs consume at least 40% of their available income.

FEDERAL VS. STATE LEGISLATION

The Inflation Reduction Act (passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2022) capped insulin at $35 per month for those on Medicare starting in January 2023. This law applies only to those with Medicare Part D coverage and does not include the 245,000 Iowans who are on state-regulated insurance plans.

Legislation at the state level is needed in order to ensure Iowans on state-regulated insurance plans have access to affordable insulin.

Bills to cap insulin costs have had broad, bipartisan support in the Iowa legislature in recent years. In 2021, House File 263, a bill supported by AARP, would have capped insulin costs at $100 per month for state-regulated health insurance plans. Although HF 263 passed 89-2 in the House, it did not make it to the Senate floor.

NEXT STEPS

We are requesting the Iowa legislature introduce a bill that caps out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $100 per prescription for Iowans on state-regulated insurance plans. This cap would apply to a 31-day supply of at least one medication within each insulin class (i.e. rapid acting, short-acting, intermediate-acting, and long-acting).

There is bipartisan support in the Iowa Legislature on this issue. Iowans on state-regulated insurance plans deserve access to affordable insulin and should not have to wait for Congress to address this issue.