Nearly 40% of insulin users pay more than $150 a month

About 72% of people in a new survey by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) say they pay more than $35 per month, and nearly 40% pay more than $150 a month. High copay costs also impact people who make between $75,000 and $99,000; among these patients, 55% say they pay more than $150 a month for their insulin.

These high costs for insulin are putting financial strain on many patients. One in 3 people surveyed by the ADA reported having to cut back on groceries because of healthcare expenses, and nearly 1 in 4 has skipped or delayed a medical appointment.

Patients impacted the most from high insulin prices are those with private and employer-sponsored health coverage and the uninsured. Federal and state efforts have aimed to limit cost sharing for insulin patients, but this has been for Medicare and Medicaid programs. Medicare and 29 states and Washington, D.C., have implemented limits on insulin cost-sharing.

An estimated 29.1 million people in the United States have diagnosed diabetes, according to the CDC. According to a 2023 CDC report, among adults between the ages of 18 and 64, almost 90% had some type of health insurance, but nearly one-third had a high-deductible plan. Additionally, an estimated 1.56 million adults with diabetes had no health insurance coverage, including 1.43 million adults aged 18 to 64.

But out-of-pocket costs for those with commercial insurance depend on the plans’ policies. The Inflation Reduction Act in 2023 capped insulin copays at $35 for those with Medicare Part D. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies, including Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi lowered costs for some insulins. But these efforts didn’t lower costs for many of those with diabetes who need insulin.

New federal legislation has been introduced to close the gap and limit copays for insulin within commercial insurance. Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate in May 2026 would cap cost-sharing under private health insurance and provide a program for the uninsured to access insulin.

The Senate bill, Affordable Insulin Now Act of 2026 (S.451) was introduced by several senators, including Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana; Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire; Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine; and Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia.

“The cost of insulin is getting more expensive year after year, forcing one in five Americans with diabetes to ration their insulin. That is completely unacceptable, and it’s particularly galling at a time when costs for Americans — including healthcare prices — are going up across the board,” Shaheen said in a news release. “Our legislation maps out a comprehensive, commonsense plan that will finally lower the cost of insulin for diabetic patients, regardless of their insurance status.”

Specifically, the bill:

• Limits out-of-pocket costs for patients who have group and individual market health plans to no more than $35 or 25% of list price per month for at least one insulin of each type and dosage form.
• Mandates pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) pass through 100% of insulin rebates and other discounts received from manufacturers to plan sponsors.
• Promotes generic and biosimilar competition to lower costs for patients.
• Creates a pilot grant program for 10 states to implement programs to identify uninsured diabetes patients and provide them with insulin at $35 a month.
• Establishes an insulin resource center and hotline for uninsured diabetes patients to connect them with resources about diabetes and programs to help them secure insulin.

“We’ve made extraordinary progress to reduce the cost of insulin in this country, but we’re not done. Too many people with diabetes are still rationing, and three-quarters are paying more than $35 per month. No one should miss taking even one dose of a lifesaving medication because it is financially out of reach,” Lisa Murdock, the ADA’s chief advocacy officer, said in a news release.