Bill to reduce insulin prices passed by Co. House committee

Colorado legislators are working on reducing the price of insulin for people in Colorado, and a new bill was passed Wednesday by the House Health and Insurance Committee.

HB19-1216 would cap the total co-pay that patients will pay for insulin to $100 per monthly supply. That’s regardless of how much insulin is being dispensed, according to a news release from Colorado House Democrats.

More than 420,000 people in Colorado have diabetes, according to Wednesday’s release, and the average out-of-pocket costs for insulin are ranging from $600 to $900 per month for Coloradans.

If passed, the legislation would also direct the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to investigate “the business practices, organization, pricing, and data of pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers, insurance carriers, and any other entity that influences insulin costs” and then write a report to identify possible solutions through the legislature.

This is in response to the skyrocketing price of insulin, which has gone up by about 45 percent between 2014 and 2017 and has risen by more than 700 percent in the last 20 years, according to Democratic Rep. Dylan Roberts, who is sponsoring the bill.

According to the release, the annual medical cost in the state for insulin prescriptions to treat diabetes is roughly $700 million.

The bill passed the committee by a largely bipartisan vote of 9-2 and will next head to the House Appropriations Committee.

Click HERE to read the bill in its entirety.