(Victor Joecks, Las Vegas Review-Journal) – The sponsor of a bill seeking to fix prices on diabetes medication debunked her most powerful argument just minutes into her opening statement.
Sen. Yvanna Cancela, D-Las Vegas, is sponsoring Senate Bill 265, which would limit the price of diabetes medication and force drug companies to disclose proprietary financial information.
“You might also hear that transparency in prescription drug pricing will stifle innovation,” Cancela said while presenting the bill during a March 29 meeting of the Senate Health and Human Services committee. “To that I would say that may be true for other drugs. It is not true for a 95-year-old drug, like insulin.”
Cancela also submitted as an exhibit a Business Insider article entitled, “A 93-year-old drug (insulin) that can cost more than a mortgage payment tells us everything that’s wrong with American healthcare.”
It’s an incredibly compelling line. It’s also false.