Senate Republicans did it again: They proved how little they actually care about life once it has emerged from the womb by blocking Democrats’ efforts to make insulin affordable for all people with diabetes. Republicans, 43 of them, didn’t just vote against it—they stripped it from the bill entirely.
An estimated 7 million Americans depend on insulin to stay alive, and about 14% of them pay as much as 40% of their income remaining after housing and groceries on the drug. These are the 43 Republicans who want people with private insurance to have to pay as much as $150 and more per month for the lifesaving drug, which costs less than $10 to produce.
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A handful of Republicans did vote with Democrats, including of all people Sen. Josh Hawley, who apparently realizes that his future political ambitions might be hampered just a little bit by this exceedingly petty vote by his colleagues.
The procedure here was a little arcane, as things tend to be with budget reconciliation bills like the Inflation Reduction Act. But it’s the process that allowed the final product to be passed with just Democratic votes. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that while the cap on insulin costs for Medicare could remain in the bill, the cap for private insurance didn’t fit the rules. Democrats left it in anyway, deciding that this was a good bill to challenge. That vote required 60 to pass, and only got 57.
Three Republicans who are up for reelection this year—Marco Rubio of Florida, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Tim Scott of South Carolina—could have made the difference. They could have voted with Democrats and made sure that insulin was affordable for everyone with insurance. They didn’t, and one of them is already feeling the heat for that.
See, it wasn’t voting against people having access to lifesaving medicine—it was Democrats trying to break the rules. That’s not going to fly with the public as long as Democrats keep up this line of attack.