Endocrine Society Endorses Bipartisan Bill to Address Insulin Affordability

Shaheen, Collins, Warnock, and Kennedy.

The endorsement frames the measure as a congressional vehicle to address insulin affordability and access.

The Society emphasizes that insulin affordability is a critical issue for people with diabetes in the United States.

Prior data cited by the advocacy material indicate that a substantial portion of adults with diabetes faced insulin rationing in a recent year.

• The Endocrine Society publicly endorsed the Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Sens.
• Core aim of the INSULIN Act: expand the existing $35 monthly out-of-pocket cap for insulin from Medicare beneficiaries to individuals with private insurance, and to establish mechanisms to support uninsured individuals in obtaining insulin.
• Context and rationale as stated by the Society: insulin is a life-sustaining therapy for many people with type 1 diabetes and for a substantial subset of people with type 2 diabetes.

• Cost-sharing and deductible provisions: the bill would require group and individual health plans to waive deductibles and limit cost-sharing for at least one insulin product of each type and dosage form to no more than $35 per month or 25% of the list price.
• Transparency and rebates: the legislation mandates Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to pass through 100% of insulin rebates and discounts to insurance plan sponsors, enabling patients to share in savings.
• Market competition: a stated objective is to foster greater competition through encouragement of generic and biosimilar insulins, with the goal of potentially reducing prices and expanding options.
• Access for the uninsured: a competitive grant program would allocate funds to 10 states to identify uninsured individuals with diabetes and provide insulin access; an insulin resource center and hotline would be established to connect uninsured individuals with resources and programs for obtaining insulin.
• Alignment with professional recommendations: the INSULIN Act is framed as consistent with the Endocrine Society’s own Insulin Access and Affordability Position Statement, which advocates rebate reform and a $35 per month cap for insulin co-pays.

The Society’s clinical affairs leadership highlighted the urgency of reducing barriers to life-sustaining therapy for people with diabetes.

• A statement from the Endocrine Society’s leadership underscored that policy measures targeting private insurance cost-sharing and uninsured access are integral to ensuring equitable access to insulin.
• The Society expressed appreciation for the bipartisan collaboration in introducing the bill and signaled a readiness to engage with Congress to advance passage within the year.

However, the provided content does not include primary data analyses, study designs, or outcome measures beyond these statements.

• The report references broader public-health concerns about insulin affordability, including a statistic on diabetes prevalence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a historical note of insulin rationing among adults with diabetes in 2021.
• The source does not present independent outcomes or empirical evaluations of the INSULIN Act; it reflects the Endocrine Society’s endorsement and outlines the bill’s proposed provisions as described in the legislative text or briefing materials.

• If enacted, the policy would formalize a cap on out-of-pocket costs for private insurance plans and create an uninsured-access program, potentially reducing financial barriers to insulin for many patients.
• Transparency provisions regarding rebates and discounts could influence payer rebate dynamics and patient access, contingent on how plans implement pass-through requirements.
• The emphasis on promoting competition through generics and biosimilars could affect the insulin market landscape, with possible downstream effects on pricing and formulary treatment options.

• It remains unclear from the source whether the bill has hosted additional amendments, its precise legislative timeline, or the specific mechanisms by which the uninsured program would be operationalized across states.
• The report does not provide quantitative impact estimates, anticipated cost to the federal budget, or real-world feasibility analyses of the pass-through rebate requirement across all PBMs.