Republicans block $35 cap on millions of patients' insulin costs - The Washington Post
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GOP senators move to strip a $35 price cap on insulin under private insurance from the Inflation Reduction Act
By Evan Halper andTony RommAugust 7, 2022 at 10:57 a.m. EDT Listen 3 min Comment on this storyComment Gift Article Share
Republican lawmakers on Sunday successfully stripped a $35 price cap on the cost of insulin for many patients from the ambitious legislative package Democrats are moving through Congress this weekend, invoking arcane Senate rules to jettison the measure.
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The insulin cap is a long-running ambition of Democrats, who want it to apply to patients on Medicare and private insurance. Republicans left the portion that applies to Medicare patients untouched but stripped the insulin cap for other patients. Bipartisan talks on a broader insulin pricing bill faltered earlier this year.
The Senate parliamentarian earlier in the weekend ruled that part of the Democrats' cap, included in the Inflation Reduction Act, did not comply with the rules that allow them to advance a bill under the process known as reconciliation — a tactic that helps them avert a GOP filibuster. That gave the Republicans an opening to jettison it.
"Republicans have just gone on the record in favor of expensive insulin," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). "After years of tough talk about taking on insulin makers, Republicans have once against wilted in the face of heat from Big Pharma."
Some Republicans did support the price cap in the 57-43 vote for the measure, but not enough joined Democrats in support of it to meet the threshold for passage.
More than 1 in 5 insulin users on private medical insurance pay more than $35 per month for the medicine, according to a recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Some 7 million Americans require insulin daily. A Yale University study found that 14 percent of those insulin users are spending more than 40 percent of their income after food and housing costs on the medicine.
Despite an adverse ruling from the chamber's parliamentarian, Democrats opted to keep the full price cap provision in the bill anyway. That gave Republicans, led in debate by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), an opening for a challenge on the Senate floor. Democrats would have needed 60 votes — their entire caucus plus the support of 10 GOP members — to beat back that challenge. They came up short.
The fight was a policy loss for Democrats, but it was also a political win, as lowering the price of drugs like insulin is popular with voters.
"The only way it doesn't pass is if folks on the other side of the aisle decide to block it," said Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.), who had previously put forward legislation calling for a price cap.
GOP lawmakers had earlier tried to offer their own, more scaled-back version of an insulin price limit, but Democrats rejected it as too narrow.
"The cost of insulin isn't just out of control, it is devastating people," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said on the Senate floor, imploring the GOP not to strip the price cap from the bill. "This should not be a hard vote to cast."
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I have this ongoing theory that Washington Republicans have a secret contest or drive happening to see how cold-hearted they can be. I keep saying it and they keep proving me right.
Actually, although I would like to see the price of insulin go down, I think the Republicans did the right thing. Reconciliation has rules. Are we supposed to just ignore them? Is the goal to just forget all the rules and just do whatever anyone wants to do? That's not going to end well. And if the Republicans use reconciliation in the future and they try to slip something in that doesn't actually qualify, you can bet the Dems are going to do the same thing.
Thing is, the Dems don't seem to be arguing against the ruling and, instead, seem to think that even though it broke the rules the Repubs should have ignored it because it's "a good cause". So, how about Congress do it the right way? You know, sort of do their jobs for a change? What would be wrong about that?
I would not propose they break the rules. But if they wanted to do it within the rules, it could easily be done.
What is wrong about it is thinking the republicans would support a bill putting a price cap on anything.
Well, I don't know the rules for reconciliation enough to say but I'd guess you'd be correct. Which leads one to wonder, if there was a way, why didn't the Dems do it that way? If there is, then my cynicism tells me they intentionally did it this way so they could use it against the Repubs. And just so no on thinks I'm just picking on Dems, I'll bet the Repubs have, or would, do the same thing.
Just to clarify, I don’t mean to say that Democrats could have done it if they wanted. I mean Republicans. Tactics like the filibuster means that having a simple majority doesn’t mean the majority party can do whatever it wants. But if at least 10 Republicans wanted to do it, it would be done already.
I'm a little confused. You said you're not suggesting they break the rules. So... if 10 Republicans wanted to do... what? Break the rules? Fix it so that it could pass reconciliation? If it could be fixed, why didn't the Dems fix it and then vote on it? That isn't an accusation. I'm actually wondering if reconciliation simply doesn't allow for it or if it could have if done right, why wasn't it done right? It doesn't make sense.
No. What I am saying is Congress wants to cap the price on insulin, they could vote for it. Reconciliation (to my understanding) just dodges the filibuster. So 60 votes would do it. Or they write a standalone bill that does that - and only that. No trickery. No special rules. No horse trading. Just do it.
So the question then is: Why won’t Republicans vote for this? My understanding is that Americans pay way more for insulin than any developed country. And the profit margin per dose is something like 1000%. Why do Republicans think that’s ok? Why don’t they want to stop it? All I can think is that it’s because they are all bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry.
Well, as I understand it, reconciliation has to do with the budget. I don't see how capping insulin prices has anything to do with that.
Well, perhaps because there isn't a bill to vote on that addresses it? I mean, it doesn't belong in the reconciliation process and I'm sure the Dems knew that. So, why don't either the Dems or the Repubs make a standalone bill that addresses this? How hard can it be? Yet we don't see any of them doing it. Doesn't that suggest something to you? Like maybe none of them want to cap insulin prices? I mean, like you say, all they have to do is submit a standalone bill without any shenanigans and vote on it. And yet not a single one of them, on either side, does so.
This is why I think the Dems included it in reconciliation in the first place. They knew it wouldn't pass and they would get to use it as a club against the Repubs. If the Dems had any interest in capping insulin prices, they should have said, "You're right. This doesn't belong in the reconciliation process. Here's a standalone bill we can vote on instead." So far, I haven't seen anything that says they're even thinking about it.
For this reconciliation bill I believe you are very much correct.
The Republicans left in the piece to cap the price for Medicare but removed the piece to place a cap on the cost of insulin for private insurance. That from what I understand cannot be included in a reconciliation bill.
What else could be expected about lawmakers who have been bought and sold by the pharmaceutical companies? With that money in their pockets why would they give a shit about the poor Americans who cannot afford their needed insulin? Welcome to "The American Way".
Actually, it's the way all human systems end up. Power corrupts.
Granted, power corrupts and corruption exists everywhere.
But then, the gop could not complain about the high cost of insulin!
Naw, we'll just join millions of Americans, including Democrats, Republicans and independents, in suffering through the highest inflation in 40 years.
Maybe we'll all complain about that next.
The problem with an article like this is they don't give the reasons the gop gave for not wanting this. And I don't mean slanted reasons given in the article or by the biased people here. Until that side is given it is hard to determine if I agree.
What? You want the unvarnished truth out of main-stream media?
Silly Rabbit...
What was I thinking?