New Senate proposal to lower insulin prices would let drugmakers lock in their current profits

WASHINGTON — A new proposal that senators claim would fix insulin pricing would actually allow drugmakers to lock in their current profits from the medicine for the foreseeable future.

The bill, introduced Wednesday by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), proposes a complicated redesign of how insulin products are priced, and what patients pay for them. The proposal could help a minority of patients who use insulin, and Senate leadership is hoping to speed it to a vote this summer.

But the fix would likely spread costs to all Medicare patients, insurers, and the federal government, without actually changing how much drug makers make on the medicine.

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