Thanks to Biden, road to affordable health care in US has one less barrier

Add another “W” to President Joe Biden’s policy win total after a combination of public pressure and Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) led drug maker Eli Lilly to announce steep cuts in the cost of insulin.

On Wednesday, the pharmaceutical giant announced that due to public pressure and provisions of the IRA, it would dramatically cut the price of some of its most common insulin products and cap co-pays for most insulin users. Some insulin products will see prices cut by as much as 70%, while expansion of Eli Lilly’s insulin value program will effectively create a $35 cap monthly cap on co-pays for approximately 85% of Americans who rely on insulin.

This is good news for the more than 34 million Americans living with diabetes, and Eli Lilly is worthy of praise for taking this important step.

We hope that other pharmaceutical companies will follow Eli Lilly’s lead and work with policymakers to find sustainable means of increasing access to affordable health care. But more importantly, we hope Republicans will take this as a clear sign that they should embrace the IRA and become part of the growing coalition of Americans fighting for affordable health care.

While pharmaceutical companies — and their Republican mouthpieces — often claim that their massive profits are necessary for research, development and innovation, the long history of insulin pricing lays bare the corporate greed of pharmaceutical companies.

When insulin was developed in the early 1920s, the researchers who were awarded the patents on the lifesaving compound sold them for only $1 so that insulin could be accessible to all who need it. One of the researchers, Frederick Banting, even reportedly said “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.”

Since then, the four largest insulin manufacturers — Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — have been accused in lawsuits of colluding to boost their profits by fixing prices and limiting access to discounts for low-income communities. Regardless of their civil or criminal liability, they certainly ignored pleas from diabetes patients and their families who rely on insulin to live.

For decades, the price of insulin rose at an unprecedented pace — more than 1,000% since 1996. These increases occurred despite advances in technology and economies of scale that made the production of insulin significantly less expensive. Many people with diabetes risk their lives by rationing their insulin doses because of the high cost.

Biden attempted to address the problem in the Inflation Reduction Act but after months of political battles with the GOP, the final version of the bill limited insulin co-pays only for Medicare patients — not for Americans with private insurers.

In a twisted series of lies and manipulations, the same GOP legislators who worked to strip affordable health care provisions from the IRA then took to the media to complain that the legislation wouldn’t actually reduce costs or drive down inflation.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, asserted that the IRA “will drive prices up.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, confidently proclaimed that “Despite its name, this bill will not reduce inflation.” Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., even penned an opinion editorial headlined “The Inflation Reduction Act Will Prolong & Make Worse Biden’s Inflation Crisis.”

Yet six months later, the U.S. inflation rate is 25% lower than when the IRA was signed, older Americans’ health care costs are capped at $2,000 annually and the price of insulin for Americans on Medicare has been reduced by 70% — reversing a decades-long trend of rapid inflation. Eli Lilly’s announcement adds to that savings.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital that the move represented a “breakthrough for American families” and “is the ultimate proof point for why Republicans need to stop seeking repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.”

We agree. Eli Lilly’s announcement is a cause for celebration and a validation of Biden’s vision for more affordable health care because of the IRA.

But it cannot be the end of efforts to reduce health care costs. We wonder how many other life-saving drugs are priced far beyond the costs of research and production, yet don’t receive the same attention as insulin. Democrats have been advocating to allow Medicare to negotiate national drug prices for everyone, including non-Medicare recipients, for precisely this reason.

After all, it’s not as if Eli Lilly is taking a loss on its sale of insulin. Even after the 70% reduction, the company will still make money. That means the drug was, until yesterday, overpriced by at least 70%. It is almost certain that the price of insulin — a product drug companies paid almost nothing to research or develop — has been similarly overpriced for decades. It’s greed at its worst.

In spite of a politically divided Congress, Republicans and Democrats must work together to reduce health care costs. Given that health care now consumes more than 10% of the average American’s annual income — and vastly more in certain demographics — reducing costs, including pharmaceutical prices, would go a long way toward reducing the general cost of living in America. This would, in turn, drive down inflation generally and make the aspects of inflation that are beyond policymakers’ control, such as the aftereffects of the pandemic and production shortages, easier to weather. Nor should we ignore the simple reality proved by reasonably priced health care: As a people, we’ll be healthier, happier, more active, more productive and more able to contribute to the flourishing of America.