Poll shows bipartisan support for Kamala Harris’ plan to cap insulin costs at $35 a month

Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 9 released a policy agenda called “A New Way Forward.” It includes plans to “take on Big Pharma to lower drug prices and cap insulin costs, not just for seniors but for all Americans.” A recent Wall Street Journal poll found bipartisan public support for her proposed cap of $35 a month on consumer costs for insulin.

“She’ll build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s successes in bringing down the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries by extending the $35 cap on insulin and $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending for seniors to all Americans,” the document states. “Her tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare the power to go toe to toe with Big Pharma and negotiate lower drug prices. As President, she’ll accelerate the negotiations to cover more drugs and lower prices for Americans.”

The Wall Street Journal survey conducted in late August found that 96% of Democratic voters support capping insulin prices at $35 and 75% of Republicans back the idea. Overall, the idea is backed by about 86% of voters under age 30 and over age 64.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 passed Congress without a single Republican vote; Harris broke a tie in the Senate, and Biden signed it into law. It included a $35 monthly out-of-pocket co-pay cap on insulin for Medicare Part B and Part D subscribers and, starting in 2025, a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug co-payments for those covered by Medicare Part D. 

Insulin prices more than doubled between 2012 and 2021, according to the nonpartisan Health Care Cost Institute. A research study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in January 2019 found that about a quarter of patients with diabetes used less insulin than needed because they could not afford to pay for it. 

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly lied about his record, inaccurately claiming during a 2020 presidential debate: “Insulin, it was destroying families, destroying people, the cost. I’m getting it for so cheap it’s like water, you want to know the truth. So cheap.” He opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, falsely calling it “the biggest tax hike in the history of our country.”

Trump’s administration implemented a temporary optional program for Medicare Part D insurance providers that gave them the option of capping prices for limited types and forms of insulin at $35; less than half did so, according to KFF. In June of this year, however, Trump falsely claimed on social media: “Low INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it.”

Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block a bipartisan proposal to extend the insulin price cap to the millions of Americans insured by private health plans. 

Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is lead sponsor of the Capping Prescription Drugs Act, which would extend the $2,000 annual cap to more than 170 million Americans under age 65 who have private insurance policies. 

Democratic Sen. Jon Fetterman is a co-sponsor of the bill.

Casey and Fetterman are also co-sponsors of the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would expand the $35-a-month insulin price cap to everyone.

Republican Dave McCormick, who is challenging Casey in the November Senate election, opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, saying in October 2023 during a radio interview that it should be rolled back.

McCormick has opposed authorizing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, saying during an August radio appearance: “The best way to ensure that we get drug prices down and health care costs down is to make sure we have adequate competition. And having the government negotiate pharmaceutical prices, call me a skeptic, except maybe in very select cases, where we really do have significant price increases.”