Rep. Jeanne McNeill is pictured in a policy discussion on the House floor.

Rep. Jeanne McNeill is continuing her effort to cap the price of insulin in Pennsylvania.

House Bill 460 is co-sponsored by McNeill and Rep. Mike Zabel, D-Delaware, though McNeill has been trying to pass the legislation since at least 2019. There are now 31 co-sponsors for the legislation, though Rep. Karen Boback, R-Luzerne/Lackawanna/Wyoming, is the only Republican.

If approved, health insurance policies in Pennsylvania would allow for no more than a $100 price for a 30-day supply of insulin regardless of the amount or type of insulin needed to fill the person’s prescription.

In addition to setting a maximum price for insulin, the legislation would direct the state Attorney General to investigate insulin prices to make sure the price cap is followed and see if additional consumer protections are needed. The report would include a summary of insulin pricing practices and factors that contribute to health insurance prices for insulin and policy recommendations to control overpricing of insulin in Pennsylvania.

“The number of horrifying stories of individuals who are left to decide between paying their rent or buying groceries and accessing the life-sustaining drug are endless in our state,” McNeill wrote in her legislative memorandum. “More commonly, people are forced to ration their doses, subjecting them to a premature, preventable death – an outcome resulting from the reprehensible price gouging they are faced with every day.”

According to a 2019 Pennsylvanian Healthcare Access Network survey, many Pennsylvania families have been forced to take actions that jeopardize their health, such as delaying care (29%), avoiding getting care altogether (21%), skipping a test or treatment (24%), failing to fill a prescription (19%), or cutting pills in half or skipping doses (17%).

In particular, drug companies were the most frequently cited as being a “major reason” for high healthcare costs (76%), and, unsurprisingly, Pennsylvanians across party lines overwhelming support action on prescription drugs.