Over the weekend, the Senate tried to rein in the skyrocketing price of insulin for millions of diabetic Americans but ultimately couldn\u2019t garner enough support. The failure reflects the complexity in regulating insulin and the stronghold pharmaceutical companies have on the drug.<\/p>\n
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Most of the world\u2019s insulin\u00a0is produced by just three companies:\u00a0Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. The drug itself has not changed since it was first discovered about 100 years ago.<\/p>\n
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Senate Democrats tried to rally\u00a0support for a proposal that would have capped out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 a month for people not covered by Medicare \u2014\u00a0but fell just three votes short<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, they were able to secure the $35 insulin price cap for Medicare beneficiaries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most diabetic Americans, however, will still face steep insulin costs, as 2020\u00a0Census Bureau<\/a>\u00a0data shows about 54 percent of Americans were in employment-based health insurance plans while about 18 percent were enrolled in Medicare. There were also about 28 million people who did not have any health insurance in 2020.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n