Uninsured Oklahomans could soon pay no more than $55 for five pre-filled pens of insulin.
House Bill 1380 by Valliant Republican Eddy Dempsey creates the Insulin Access and Affordability Program at the state Department of Health. The goal, he said, is to increase marketplace competition for Insulin sellers by reducing the drug’s cost and addressing shortages for it and other generic prescription drugs in Oklahoma.
Dempsey provided one example of who might benefit from lower prices.
“I got a couple of emails from people that are children and they're on their insurance right now,” he said. “But they're worried that when they become adults and they don't have insurance, how they're going to afford insulin.”
Dempsey said it’s “crazy” Americans travel to other countries to buy equivalent drugs at a fraction of the prices — assuming they can afford the trip in the first place.
“It’s crazy we can go to Canada or Mexico and buy medicine dirt cheap and bring it back over,” he said. “It's the same medicine — they say it's not, but it is.”
“They” being pharmaceutical interests, Dempsey said.
The strategy proposed by Dempsey’s legislation hopes to saturate the Oklahoma market with more generic drugs by leveraging federal United States Drug and Food Administration, or USDA, grants to local nonprofit clinics, hospitals and pharmacies. The grantees could then purchase and supply those drugs to the uninsured at low cost.
The bill limits insulin prices to $33 for one vial, or $55 for five pre-filled pens.
A diabetic himself, Dempsey said he’s “blessed” to have access to the Choctaw health clinic in his area, where insulin costs are covered. But not everyone is Choctaw, he said.
“I have the Choctaw to help me, but others — a lot of my friends — don't,” he said. “So when you see a close friend that was a football player, a police officer and stuff. And diabetes hits him and he can't afford the insulin. And then he starts losing toes, half his foot and half his leg. And then it kills him.”
“That’s the stuff that, when it came around, was all I could think about.”
Dempsey said nonprofits with the mission to provide low-cost insulin and other medications should follow the legislation, and if his measure gets through, partner with the state and USDA.
The bill passed the House Monday with a 77-13 bipartisan vote. It can now be heard in the Senate.
