Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-07) announced that Eli Lilly, one of the top producers of insulin in the world, will reduce the price of its most commonly prescribed insulins and expand a program that caps monthly out-of-pocket costs for patients at $35 or less. The announcement comes in response to a bill Representative McBath led last year to cap the out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. McBath has continued to push for expanded savings on these life-saving prescription drugs. 

“Eli Lilly has announced they will cut the cost of their insulin to $35 a month for their patients,” said Congresswoman McBath. “This decision is the direct result of the work we did here in Congress to make insulin affordable for every senior on Medicare, and I am proud that this decision today will expand on our program that caps monthly out-of-pocket costs to $35 a month or less.”

Representative Lucy McBath’s law that caps insulin costs at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare went into effect on January 1, 2023. 40 million Americans live with diabetes and 1 in 4 diabetic patients ration or skip insulin doses due to the exorbitant costs. The law is helping make a drug that has been around for 100 years, and that many diabetics need every day, more affordable for the seniors who need it. 

In 1920, before insulin was discovered, it would have been exceptional for diabetic patients to live longer than a year or two. 100 years later, some estimates state that diabetics spend nearly $6,000 a year on insulin alone. Analysis from the American Diabetes Association asserts that care for diagnosed diabetic patients accounts for one out of every four dollars spent on healthcare in the United States, and from 2012 to 2016, insulin prices doubled. In the last year, 100,000 Americans have died from diabetes, an increase of 15 percent from pre-COVID-19 levels.