Lilly cuts insulin costs 70%, calls for savings to pass through to consumers

Indianapolis, Indiana – Eli Lilly and Company announced it will reduce the cost of insulin by 70% in order to make it more accessible to people who are enrolled in private health plans as well as those who do not have health insurance.

”We’re also today announcing that we’re capping patient out-of-pocket costs for insulin and we will automatically provide an out-of-pocket cap of $35 at the majority of the retail pharmacies in the United States for people with commercial insurance who use Lilly insulin,” said Lilly CEO & Chairman David Ricks.

According to Ricks, patients without health insurance who signed up online for the Lilly Insulin Value Program and obtained a savings card would likewise be subject to the $35 monthly cap.

“If you ask any insulin user if they need better insulins to manage their conditions, I’m sure they’ll say, ‘Yes.’”

The Lilly news is “a game changer,” according to Martha Bonds of the Diabetes Impact Program Indianapolis Neighborhoods, who use insulin and is largely dependent on government health care assistance and is required to satisfy a deductible.

“That’s wonderful,” she said. “I’m a diabetic myself and I do have insurance, but unless I meet that donut hole in Medicare, I’m still paying an arm and a leg until I get past that donut hole. So, $35 now. I can afford it.”

In addition, Ricks urged “policymakers, employers, and others” to lower the cost of insulin.

”We provide significant discounts to insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers but often, due to plan design, those discounts don’t reach patients directly,” he said. ”To my friends and colleagues who are running large companies or big employers, we urge you to share manufacturer rebates directly with your beneficiaries and employees at the point of sale and exempt inulin and other lifesaving and life-sustaining drugs from insurance deductibles.”

Bonds asserted that patients all across the world would gain if employers and insurance providers accepted Ricks’ offer.

”I know our community will be very grateful and this will save millions of lives,” she said. ”It would be wonderful, and for him to say what he said about the pharmacies and different things keeping that money, it’s like, you just pulled the cover off the situation, and so now that we know that that’s what they been doing, hopefully, we can shame them into not keeping the money for themselves and passing it on to the consumer, passing it on to the employees, and that’s what needs to be done.”