Retired Pennsylvania nurse is saving money on medications and insulin under Biden law

In three decades working as a nurse, Steve Lubin saw firsthand the struggles of his patients to afford prescription drugs and insulin. After retirement, he and his wife personally experienced the financial struggle to cover expensive co-payments. 

Now, thanks to President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the Pennsylvania resident says vital medications have gotten more affordable for both his family and the people he treated.

After his initial diagnosis a few years ago, Lubin began using insulin to control his diabetes. Even with his Medicare Part D insurance, the treatments were expensive. “I don’t remember the exact number, but it was closer to $100,” he said of his monthly co-payment. “By the end of the year, I was putting out about $900 just for my insulin.”

His wife, who also lives with diabetes, uses a prescription drug called Trulicity, which is even more expensive than insulin. “I’m putting out close to $4,000 a year just on that drug,” Lubin said.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey voted to pass, includes a $2,000-a-year cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs beginning in 2025 for Medicare Part D beneficiaries and a $35-a-month out-of-pocket cap for those that use insulin. 

“That will make things a lot better,” Lubin said of the new caps. “Now with the $35 cap, you know, paying out a lot less.” Lubin said he and his wife are saving a total of about $1,800 annually thanks to the law.

During his career as an intensive care unit nurse, Lubin said, he saw many patients whose health was harmed by their inability to afford insulin and prescription drugs: “I had patients that were skipping … their blood pressure pills or whatever other medications as well. Maybe they only took one a day when they’re supposed to take two or three a day, because that’s all they can afford. And the same thing with the insulin, either had people not paying for the insulin or basically rationing how much insulin they’re giving them. So they ended up spending a lot more time with high sugar, which eventually leads to a lot of complications, ranging from cardiac and cardiovascular … and eventually they end up getting infections, and you do have amputations done. Then you also have kidney issues, you have vision issues, and also nerve issues.”

The cap, he says, will save money in the long run: “It’s very, very expensive to be in the hospital, even more so in the intensive care unit,” Lubin said, and uninsured people who cannot afford their medications or doctors’ fees end up in ICUs at public expense. “It costs the government, which means our taxes are now going for that instead of for other things to help society.”

On July 11, Casey and Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock introduced a bill to implement a similar $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for patients with private insurance policies.

Every Republican in Congress and former President Donald Trump opposed the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump and Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick have both said they intend to roll back the law if they win in November.

“If you end up taking something like that away,” Lubin said, “that’s only going to hurt most Americans that are not rich.”