Lost Price: Markey touts insulin price cap for Medicare recipients at local health center

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey is making the rounds to highlight a $35-a-month insulin price cap for Medicare recipients.

“We all too often see the downstream consequences of barriers to care, including the high cost of prescription drugs like insulin and other medications used to treat diabetes,” said
Christian Arbelaez, Chief of Emergency Services at Boston Medical Center. “I care for these patients in the emergency department when they present with life-threatening emergencies, like heart attacks, strokes and sepsis — precipitated by the lack of insulin.”

Markey visited the center this week to speak about the policy included in the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022. Under the law, the price of insulin will be capped at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare.

Insulin may cost over $1,000 a month for those with poor or no health insurance, Markey said. One in five Americans over the age of 65 — eligible for Medicare — has been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, according to a 2017 CMS survey, meaning millions could be eligible for the price cap.

Markey remarked that when scientists discovered insulin 100 years ago, they recognized the importance to diabetes patients and sold the patents for $1.

The exponential rise in the price of insulin is “highway robbery,” Markey argued, and patients are “absolute hostages.”

“(Corporate greed) it is making our country sicker,” Markey said. “Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. One in five Americans with diabetes is forced to ration their insulin.”

As chair of the Senate’s Health Care Subcommittee, Markey said he will push to expand the $35 cap for all patients, a “moral necessity.”

Some states have taken their own approaches to insulin price gouging, including state-run production of insulin in California and imposing state price caps in Colorado.

Markey toured the clinic and noted the importance of health centers like these in creating “healthcare justice.” Life expectancy in the Dorchester neighborhood is 10 years shorter than life expectancy in nearby Newton, he said, largely because of preventable healthcare disparities.

The Codman Square facility is the “platinum standard,” Markey stated, pledging to make sure it get necessary funding and resources.

“It’s not just about the insulin — it’s about getting the insulin to the right people at the right place at the right time,” said Renee Crichlow, Codman Square Chief Medical Officer. … “You have to realize equity is putting resources where they’re needed most. This man gets us the resources, and we put them where they’re needed most. We’re in this together.”