Minnesota House Democrats have cued-up their insulin assistance plan for a floor vote — date to be determined — and Senate Republicans are headed toward a vote also, but with a much different bill. Governor Tim Walz says, “The sticking-point is still where it was in May: whether the pharmaceutical manufacturers should take part in the pay-for of this, and… that has yet to be worked out.”
Republican Senator Scott Jensen from Chaska says less than ten percent of the program cost would come from the state — the rest from free insulin provided by manufacturers. He says to Democrats, let’s solve the problem, not punish drug makers. “The pharmaceutical manufacturers are guilty of price-gouging, but so is Wall Street, and perhaps physicians are too,” Jensen says.