Senate Republicans killed the cap for the cost of insulin on private insurance plans and just gave Democrats another major issue for the midterm election.
I wrote on Saturday that the insulin price cap would be decided on the Senate floor, and as expected Republicans appealed the private insurance price cap to the parliamentarian, who decided that it violated the reconciliation agreement, so it had to be passed with 60, and the amendment fell three votes short.
The vote:
By a vote of 57-43, the #Senate did not agree to the motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Insulin provision of Schumer substitute amendment #5194
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GOP Voting Yes: Senators Cassidy, Collins, Hawley, Hyde Smith, Kennedy Murkowski & Sullivan
— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) August 7, 2022
In layman’s terms:
The Senate GOP has stripped an insulin cap for millions of Americans on private insurance from the Dem spending bill, 57-43 vote.
7 GOP senators sided with Dems to keep it in: Cassidy, Collins, Hawley, Hyde-Smith, Kennedy, Murkowski and Sullivan
— Joseph Zeballos-Roig (@josephzeballos) August 7, 2022
The good news is that the insulin price cap remains for people on Medicare/Medicaid, but for millions of Americans who depend on insulin and are either paying out of pocket or having a high co-pay passed on to them, Senate Republicans just made sure that Big Pharma will still profit off their need for daily life-saving medication.
The ads virtually write themselves for Democrats, as this is another stupid self-inflicted wound for Senate Republicans who seem determined to blow any chance that they once had of taking back the Senate majority.
Republicans don’t want you to be able to afford your medicine is the sort of election pitch that will help Democrats expand their Senate majority in November.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
