Affordable Insulin Now Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, to assure a stable supply of insulin and better health at $35 instead of $300 monthly, I fully support this bill for Yolanda, a retired Texas teacher, and one-quarter of insulin- dependent patients forced to ration their insulin because of predatory pricing.

Yet, instead of addressing pharmaceutical price gouging, this bill really only shifts how Big Pharma is rewarded. Since this bill does not reduce any insulin prices by one penny, all of us who are insured will ultimately pay through our premiums while taxpayers are on the hook for $11 billion. For Americans who rely on other types of lifesaving drugs, there is also no relief. Big Pharma remains immune from any restraint on its monopoly prices from a Congress that is simply unable to hold it accountable.

My further concern is that this bill widens the coverage gap for nearly 5.5 million Texans and 28 million Americans who are uninsured, wrongly excluded from any benefit, and who do not receive any benefit today. While the uninsured population represents 17 percent of the insulin-dependent population, they constitute 80 percent of the people who pay full, monopoly prices. So, help for some--which is important-- but there is a need to do more for the many who are not covered today.

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