Warnock’s $35 Insulin Cap Voted Out of Committee, Heads to Senate Floor

The INSULIN Act of 2026, which caps out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $35 a month for private insurance users and ensures access to affordable insulin for uninsured diabetics, passed out of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee with bipartisan support

Over 12%of Georgia's population has diabetes, and tens of thousands more remain undiagnosed

Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, legislation led by U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) titled the Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act of 2026 passed out of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee with bipartisan support. The INSULIN Act of 2026 legislation caps out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 a month for private insurance holders across the country and helps ensure uninsured diabetics have access to insulin that is $35 or less. The bipartisan bill builds on Senator Warnock's legislation that capped insulin costs for seniors and was signed into law in 2022. This legislation, co-led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Susan Collins (R-ME), now heads to the Senate floor for a vote.

The INSULIN Act of 2026 includes a Senator Warnock-negotiated provision that would establish a 10-state pilot grant program that awards funding to community health centers to help provide affordable insulin to uninsured patients and get them connected to care. The legislation also establishes an insulin resource center and hotline to help connect uninsured people with diabetes to resources they need to obtain insulin.

"After years of effort, my bill to cap insulin at $35 a month for everyone is one step closer to becoming law," said Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock. "No one should be forced to put their health or life in danger because they can't afford insulin or don't know where to get it."

Senator Warnock has long been a champion of lowering insulin costs for Georgians since joining the Senate. Since 2022, Senator Warnock has introduced legislation each Congress to lower insulin costs and help make prescription drug prices more affordable for Georgians. He first spearheaded legislation that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act and capped insulin costs for seniors at $35 per month. In 2023, Senators Warnock and Kennedy introduced the Affordable Insulin Now Act of 2023, to cap the cost of insulin for everyone who needs it at $35. Later in 2023, Warnock and Kennedy released a report analyzing county-level data across the country to examine counties with both high rates of uninsured people and high rates of diabetes - which the Senators termed "Insulin Deserts".

Costs to treat diabetes have continued to rise for many Americans. According to the Health Care Costs Institute, insulin prices nearly doubled from 2012 to 2021, with the average price for a 30-day supply of insulin increasing from $271 to $499 during that span. According to the American Diabetes Association, medical costs and lost work and wages for people with diagnosed diabetes total $412.9 billion each year, and has asserted that diabetics account for $1 of every $4 spent on health care in the U.S.

Cosponsors of the Insulin Act of 2026 include Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Angus King (I-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL), Chris Coons (D-DE), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Jim Justice (R-WV), Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jim Banks (R-IN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), David McCormick (R-PA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Mark Warner (D-VA).

Read full text of the bill HERE

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