Insulin Cap Vote Results

On April 1 2022, several popular Imgur posts covered an insulin cap vote in the House of Representatives, with the primary assertion that the votes to make the lifesaving medication affordable fell along party lines:

One of the Imgur posts featured a screenshot of a tweet, the text of which appeared on one of the other posts:

Fact Check

Claim: "193 House Republicans just voted against lowering the cost of insulin. Every Democrat voted for the measure."

Description: Several posts claimed that 193 House Republicans voted against the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which aimed to cap the cost of insulin at a month for insured patients.

Rating: True

Rating Explanation: The vote on the Affordable Insulin Now Act was covered in news reports and confirmed by GovTrack.us, which showed 12 Republicans voted in favor, while 193 Republicans voted against the bill. Therefore, the claim is confirmed to be true.

Insulin — and the relatively exorbitant cost to Americans reliant on the medication — remained a topic of frequent discussion from 2019 onward. All posts referenced a vote in the House of Representatives, and some alluded to a pending vote in the Senate.

One of the posts linked to a March 31 2022 article by the Associated Press, which provided context about the name of the bill and when it took place:

The House on Thursday [March 31 2022] passed a bill capping the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for insured patients, part of an election-year [2022] push by Democrats for price curbs on prescription drugs at a time of rising inflation.

Experts say the legislation, which passed 232-193, would provide significant relief for privately insured patients with skimpier plans and for Medicare enrollees facing rising out-of-pocket costs for their insulin. Some could save hundreds of dollars annually, and all insured patients would get the benefit of predictable monthly costs for insulin. The bill would not help the uninsured.

But the Affordable Insulin Now Act will serve as a political vehicle to rally Democrats and force Republicans who oppose it into uncomfortable votes ahead of the midterms [in 2022]. For the legislation to pass Congress, 10 Republican senators would have to vote in favor. Democrats acknowledge they don’t have an answer for how that’s going to happen.

In the article, Associated Press reported that the vote passed the House of Representatives 232 to 193, and the posts added that all of the 193 votes against the Affordable Insulin Now Act were by House Republicans. On GovTrack.us, a page titled “H.R. 6833: Affordable Insulin Now Act” tallied the votes by number and party.

According to the tally, 232 members of the House voted to pass the Affordable Insulin Now Act on March 31 2022. Of the 432 total votes (232 in favor, 193 against), 220 of the “yea” votes were by Democrats.

In all, 12 of the “yea” votes were by Republicans. All of the 193 votes opposing the Affordable Insulin Now Act were from Republicans in the House, and GovTrack.us included them in a section titled “Statistically Notable Votes.”

On April 1 2022, at least four popular Imgur posts referenced a claim that a then-recent vote (on the Affordable Insulin Now Act) passed the House of Representatives, but that 193 Republicans voted against the measure to cap insulin costs at $35 a month for insured patients. News reports covered the vote in the House (pending in the Senate). GovTrack.us confirmed that 12 Republicans in the House voted in favor of the Affordable Insulin Now Act, and that 193 Republicans voted against the bill; all votes by Democrats were in favor of the bill.

Update, March 2 2023, 6:08 PM: On March 1 2022, drug manufacturer Eli Lilly announced it placed a $35 cap on insulin:

Eli Lilly will cap the out-of-pocket cost of its insulin at $35 a month, the drugmaker said Wednesday [March 1 2023]. The move, experts say, could prompt other insulin makers in the U.S. to follow suit.

The change, which Eli Lilly said takes effect immediately, puts the drugmaker in line with a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, which in January [2023] imposed a $35 monthly cap on the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for seniors enrolled in Medicare.

President Joe Biden praised the move in a tweet, calling on other drugmakers to also lower insulin prices. Biden made insulin costs a focus of his State of the Union speech [in February 2023].

The American Diabetes Association also applauded the decision, and encouraged other insulin manufacturers to lower costs.