(Pictured: Sen. Boren post-legislation interview)
Becca Yanez (OU)
The first bill heard in the esteemed senate chambers on November 11 is OU-003 authored by Senator Boren. The intention of the bill, according to Senator Boren, is to implement a cap on how much insurance companies can charge a copay on a month’s supply of insulin.
“This would ultimately lower the cost of what consumers have to pay,” Sen. Boren commented.
The bill passed the Senate with a majority vote, though some had their reservations with the legislation. Sen.Boudreau and Sen.Cook drafted and passed an amendment crossing out section 3 of the bill that reads;
“3. No insulin manufacturer may charge companies more than two dollars ($2) per one (1) vial of insulin.”
Boudreau stated that, “The calculations used were based on raw materials and not the actual cost of doing business…we’d rather limit at the pharmacy level where they have more products that they are selling in addition (to insulin) so if they take the loss they can make up for it elsewhere.”
Another amendment created by Sen.Floyd passed to prolong the effective date from 90 days to 180. Boren later confirmed that this amendment was done because the bill’s original effective date was placed incorrectly.
8 voters abstained from voting on this legislation, though their reasoning seems unclear. Still, Boren suspects that the amendments may have something to do with it.
Ultimately, Boren expects this bill to be well-received in the house. But of course, the body moves how the body moves.