Minnesota House passes insulin affordability bill
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - An emergency insulin bill jumped its first hurdle in becoming law.
The Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act Wednesday night.
The bill would set up a statewide assistance program so that diabetics who can’t afford their insulin can access an emergency supply. The bill is named after 26-year old Alec Smith, who died in 2017 after rationing his insulin.
While the Democrats’ proposal funds the program largely, Republicans said the bill would result in higher insulin prices.
“I believe we can solve the problem for insulin access without getting government completely involved with subsidies or taxes, thereby driving the cost up higher, complicating the system and the next thing you know, we’ll have a shortage of insulin,” said Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe).
“People understand how health care functions, this bill has been vetted, this bill has been tested, this bill has been sitting on our desk, waiting for action for months and months and months,” said Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley). That is why we expedited it through this process because we cannot wait longer.”
The Senate still has to take up this issue and it will likely look different than the bill that the House passed this evening.