By Michael Mandel and Kenneth E. Thorpe
For The Reporter
President Biden and lawmakers in both parties have prioritized slashing Americans’ out-of-pocket spending on insulin. And they recently made significant strides by including a $35-a-month co-pay cap for insulin for Medicare beneficiaries in the Inflation Reduction Act.
But as promising as these cost-reduction measures are, they raise a key question: Why limit the co-pay price caps to just insulin? Nearly eight million Pennsylvanians live with at least one chronic condition and three million are living with two or more. For seniors on Medicare, chronic disease prevalence is even higher and, for millions with fixed incomes, out-of-pocket costs are increasingly problematic.
If a $35-a-month co-pay cap makes sense for insulin — and it does — why not implement the same policies for medicines that treat asthma, hypertension, and other common chronic conditions and focus on Medicare where chronic diseases are so prevalent?
