More Americans with diabetes will get a break on their insulin costs in 2024 !
Medicare Beneficiaries will now pay no more than $35 a month for each of their insulin prescriptions, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden-Harris and Democratic lawmakers pushed through Congress in 2022.
Some 8.4 million Americans rely on insulin to survive, and as many as 1 in 4 patients have been unable to afford their medicine, leading them to ration doses – sometimes with fatal ramifications, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Because of the high prices that Big Pharma has been charging for life saving insulin medication,
Drug-makers have come under fire for years for steeply raising the price of insulin, which is relatively inexpensive to produce. The inflation-adjusted cost of the medication has increased 24% between 2017 and 2022, and spending on insulin has tripled in the past decade to $22.3 billion in 2022, according to the American Diabetes Association. The Biden-Harris administration increased pressure on insulin manufacturers to lower their prices, and through the now passed Inflation Reduction Act, affords most diabetes patients the $35 price cap.