Here we are again, and still, we have not passed the Wisconsin Insulin Price Cap bill… 

Here are a few updates and questions to keep in mind as you consider the state of the bill and this petition:

• Will the “Less for Rx Act” get us there? (Posted 6 Days Ago from “Wausau Herald.”)
• Is creating our own insulin the answer?
• Are “cheaper” versions of insulin the answer?

There are so many ideas out there, and different approaches to affecting positive change for this community, so I want to know…

• Do you think this petition is still a good way to get the bill passed and reach a resolution for Wisconsinites with diabetes who are struggling to afford their insulin?
  • If so, what do you think will help to get this bill pushed through and approved?

I want to help make it happen for this community but have felt stunted through COVID, as I’m sure many of you also have. We are facing so many important issues and challenges in 2021. Unfortunately, this particular issue has gotten washed away in the mix of it all, but I want to bring it back to the forefront of our representation’s minds and agendas for the sake of this community. Don’t you?

I want to hear your ideas and thoughts on how we can affect this positive change. Clearly, a petition with almost 65,000 signatures isn’t enough for the state to date. Various articles and videos have been produced on the topic of lowering insulin prices, but unfortunately, the urgency and necessity of the bill has seemed to fall flat.

Wisconsinites, I especially need your help. I have gotten feedback in the past from various representatives that implied that they need more signatures from Wisconsin citizens for the petition to make an impact on the decision-making process.

So, if you know Wisconsin citizens who would be willing to support this, please send the petition link their way and ask them to lend their signatures. I believe that’s a good first step.

I’m still in this with everyone who’s signed the petition from the start to now despite the slowness of its progress. I welcome your ideas and input about how to reach a resolution. I think we can all agree that insulin prices shouldn’t keep rising and that we want to do our part to stop prices from going up…

If you are a more experienced advocate and petition starter, please don’t hesitate to share your ideas and steps to success. I’d love to hear about what you think makes the biggest impact in getting a positive response to your petition.

Thanks to everyone who’s kept up with the petition since 2019. I hope we can FINALLY close it on a positive note in the near future!

You can follow the WI Insulin Price Cap Support Page on Facebook for more updates as well.

Thanks again. I hope you are feeling healthy and hanging in there through every high and low.

This message has come straight from the office of Governor Tony Evers. I thought everyone who follows this campaign should see it because it concerns insulin prices for Wisconsinites. I wanted to share it in case you did not see it.

Here is the email that was sent:

“My Fellow Wisconsinites, 

On behalf of all Wisconsinites, I hope this message finds you safe and healthy. Remembering your past correspondence, I would like to update you on our administration’s budget initiatives to address the rising and burdensome cost of prescription drug prices.

As you know, the high cost of prescription drugs continues to place a financial burden on too many Wisconsinites. In 2019, prescription drugs were estimated to cost Wisconsinites more than $1.3 billion. These ballooning costs have forced families to make tough decisions like rationing medication, going without groceries or heat, or even going without their life-saving medicine altogether.

This issue has impacted Wisconsinites for years, and my administration has been working to fix it. In my 2019-2021 budget, we proposed numerous policies to try to tackle these rising costs, such as creating a new Drug Transparency Review unit that would help reduce the cost of prescription drugs and increase the transparency of drug costs and quality data for consumers.

We also proposed reducing costs by creating a prescription drug importation program by requiring pharmacy benefit managers to disclose price concessions they receive from drug companies, and by removing prescription drug copays under BadgerCare. Unfortunately, most of these policies were rejected by the Republican Legislature.

In 2019, I also established the Governor’s Task Force on Reducing Prescription Drug Prices to find strategies to reduce soaring prescription drug prices in Wisconsin. Our 2021-23 budget proposal builds on the work of the Task Force by including more than 20 initiatives to start tackling this issue head-on. In our 2021-2023 budget, we are going to:

Lower Prices & Control Costs

• Create a Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board to establish prescription drug spending targets and price limits for public sector entities. 
• Build a Prescription Drug Importation Program that would allow the State to import drugs that would create substantial savings for Wisconsin consumers and taxpayers. 
• Provide the State with the authority to study, develop, and pursue a State Prescription Drug Purchasing Entity, allowing state and local collaboration to combine and leverage purchasing power to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and save taxpayer dollars. 
• Improve the Wisconsin Drug Repository Program by streamlining processes and allowing partnerships.
• End discriminatory reimbursement practices toward 340B programs.
• Require insurers under certain circumstances to apply discounts and coupons utilized by consumers to deductibles and annual out-of-pocket maximums. 
• Develop a Patient Pharmacy Benefit Tool to help prescribers take out-of-pocket costs into consideration when choosing between medically-similar medication options.

Increase Transparency & Protect Consumers

• Create the Office of Prescription Drug Affordability to oversee and regulate the pharmaceutical supply chain and serve as a watchdog for Wisconsin consumers. 
• Increase consumer protections for Wisconsinites from attempts to artificially raise prices or mislead consumers through deceptive marketing and advertising practices. 
• Require transparency and reporting across the prescription drug supply chain, from manufacturers and PBMs to PSAOs and health plans. 
• Provide oversight and require reporting or licensing for PBMs, PSAOs, PBM brokers and consultants, and Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives.
  Ensure Access for Wisconsin’s Most Vulnerable.
• Establish a $50 copay cap on insulin to ensure insulin is affordable for all Wisconsinites.
• Create an Insulin Safety Net Program to ensure folks never need to choose between rationing insulin and meeting other basic needs.
• Develop an innovative pilot program aimed at developing a value-based formulary for diabetes medication.
• Increase funding for free and charitable clinics by $4 million over the biennium.
• Encourage pharmacists to volunteer at clinics providing no-cost care to Wisconsin’s most vulnerable, strengthening the healthcare workforce to improve access.
• Eliminate BadgerCare prescription drug copayments to make the prescription drug benefit more accessible.

The bottom line is that healthcare—medication or otherwise—should not be a privilege afforded only to the healthy and wealthy. Picking up your prescriptions shouldn’t break the bank. This is just one of the many ways we are going to move Wisconsin forward, together, in my next budget. I will be presenting my full 2021-23 Budget Message on February 16 and I hope you’ll join me in fighting for a budget that puts the people of Wisconsin first.  
 
Be healthy, be safe, and let’s move forward together, Wisconsin.

Sincerely,
Tony Evers
Governor

GOVERNOR TONY EVERS
www.evers.wi.gov
govinfo@wisconsin.gov
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: (608) 266-1212″

Again, I feel that now is a really great time to increase the momentum behind gaining access to affordable insulin in the state of Wisconsin. Hopefully, this can help push more states in the right direction as well if/when passed.

This could be a great step in the right direction. Please continue to advocate and share your concerns with your lawmakers. Hang in there! Keep advocating for the issues you care about. I know we’ve been on this journey for a long time. I thank you for your patience in achieving our ultimate goal for this community. Your resilience does not go unnoticed.

Thanks again for all that you do. I hope everyone is doing and feeling well in these times. Let’s FINALLY cap insulin prices in the state of Wisconsin!

“One of the biggest health issues Wisconsin lawmakers faced before the coronavirus pandemic was high drug prices, and on Wednesday, Gov. Tony Evers announced a plan to lower medication costs for the state and consumers.

Evers’ plan would limit copayments on insulin, import drugs from countries where they cost less, and give more funding to free clinics that provide medication patients couldn’t otherwise afford.

The proposal is a glimpse into what the Democratic governor will include in his next two-year budget which he will formally deliver in an address Feb. 16.”

Read the complete story by Shamane Mills of WPR here.

Now is a great time to voice your support and make some noise about the importance of making insulin affordable for all! Share this page or article – anything you care about that supports affordable access to insulin for all in the state of Wisconsin, and, hopefully, the U.S. as a collective.

There is still an insulin crisis happening in our country. Prices need to be capped.

Thank you for continuing to support this campaign, spread awareness about type 1 diabetes, and advocate to create a better world for all people living with type 1 diabetes.

Newly proposed Tennessee laws would cap insulin costs and provide transparency in medical pricing.

HB451 and HB449 are sponsored by State Representative Jason Hodges (D-Clarksville-D67).

HB451 would put a cap on the amount of money a health insurance company can charge a patient out of pocket, limiting the total to $100 for a 30 day supply of insulin.

Tennessee state Rep. Jason Hodges wrote a bill to forbid any pharmacy in Tennessee from charging more than $100 for a 30-day insulin supply, thinking that would force drug companies to lower their prices.

Hodges secured enough votes for his bill to set a $100 price ceiling — not a copay cap — at its first reading. But in June he decided to pull the bill, after colleagues whose support he counted on told him they would no longer vote for it. “I refused to change the bill, and so at that point pharmaceutical companies were very opposed to it,” he said.

Read more below…

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/states-are-trying-cap-price-insulin-pharmaceutical-companies-are-pushing-n1236766?fbclid=IwAR2HMYH-1KES2VGFqGmwjtTsYtH2ZAbYYHGEvrbgiNOPmVaQ_PcwC1s5EGg

TN Rep Jason Hodges advised me that our Insulin Cap bill is getting National attention. Several other states want to adopt our bill. There is an investigative journalist that is looking to interview an uninsured person that is dealing with diabetes and having to pay for everything out of pocket. If you meet this criteria and are willing to be interviewed please call or text me at 931-378-0500.