CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The House Judiciary Committee has approved legislation to cap the cost of insulin, sending the measure to the full chamber.
The committee voted in favor Friday of HB 4543, which would limit the cost of a 30-day supply of insulin to $25.
Delegates Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, and Jordan Hill, R-Nicholas, have been working on the bill in hopes of passage during this session.
Fleischauer has shared stories from her constituents about the effects of increasing costs.
“It’s not clear if we have the largest or the second diabetic population in the country,” she said during the committee hearing. “We have people that are both Type I and Type II and the Type I people couldn’t do anything to prevent it.”
Joylynn Fix, director rates and forms in the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, said this legislation would benefit many people on fixed incomes.
“You’ve got Medicare members out there who may be paying the full $800 or $900, whatever that cost is during that time in the doughnut hole until they reach the other side,” she said.
The bill would also cover testing supplies and other medical equipment required by diabetic patients.