WASHINGTON — From the farmlands of Illinois to Florida’s Gulf Coast, insulin affordability advocates have spent the last year crashing town halls, penning op-eds, and even firing off snarky treatises to their members of Congress.
Their diligence is about to pay off: No fewer than 13 members of Congress, from the ultra-progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to the moderate, once-Republican Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), are planning to bring insulin affordability advocates as their guests for Tuesday’s State of the Union address, congressional staffers confirmed to STAT.
It’s the latest sign that insulin, above all else, has become Democrats’ signature drug pricing talking point. The lawmakers are likely to use the advocates’ stories not only to push for comprehensive drug pricing reform, but to bludgeon President Trump and his party over their spotty progress in tackling high drug prices over the past year. Many of the White House’s regulatory efforts have stalled or collapsed, and Republicans have struggled to coalesce around a single proposal.
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