SALT LAKE CITY — As the first week of the legislative session comes to a close, many new bills are taking shape.
One of the most talked-about so far is House Bill 207, spearheaded by Rep. Norman Thurston (R-Provo).
The bill proposes that a $30 cap be placed on a 30 day supply of insulin medication for those insured.
“I’ve just known far too many people who have a difficult time getting the insulin that they need, so they end up taking less or not taking it, which has really significant consequences," Thurston told FOX 13.
For families all across Utah and the world, the price of Insulin has soared, for some becoming unmanageable.
To better understand the situation, FOX 13 reached out to Sandi Monsen, whose daughter Reese has Type 1 diabetes and needs insulin to survive.
“For our family and for so many families, the cost of insulin sometimes to cost someone’s mortgage,” Sandi told FOX13.
“I’d feel better and it would be easier if it was less expensive," Reese said.
Organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) are also seeing the trend upwards.
“The cost of it is astronomical, and it's raised every year for year after year," Executive Director Mike Somers told FOX 13. "It's become such a crippling burden for people living with type one diabetes especially."
Rep. Thurston fully acknowledge the problem and even says that this lack of ability to afford or obtain needed medication is dangerous.
“We’ve developed this secondary market where people get desperate and they start doing things that they shouldn’t have to do. We ought to be able to do something better than that," Thurston said.
Above all, this bill is for families and kids like Reese who will live their lives needing this medication.
While this bill has several steps before it can become law, it is a step in the right direction for those in need everywhere.
“We don’t have a choice," Sandi Monsen said. "These are the cards that we were dealt and so we will do anything for her.”
