North Dakota Lawmakers to Consider Bill Capping Price of Insulin

Advocates celebrate 2023 legislation capping insulin prices for people on the state employee health insurance plan in a signing ceremony at the North Dakota Capitol with Gov. Doug Burgum in May 2024. Angela Kritzberger, second from right, and her daughter Nina, third from right, plan to travel to Bismarck this week to testify in favor of a bill to extend the caps to the general North Dakota commercial insurance market. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

(Mary Steurer – North Dakota Monitor) – State lawmakers this week will hear testimony on a bill to lower the price of insulin drugs and supplies for more North Dakotans.

If adopted as currently written, House Bill 1114 would set out-of-pocket costs for a monthly supply of insulin at $25 for the North Dakota commercial insurance market. The same monthly price cap would also apply to medical supplies used to administer insulin.

The new caps would affect North Dakotans on individual and small group insurance plans. The bill doesn’t apply to insurance provided by large employers.

The caps were already piloted for state employee health plans beginning in 2023, which would continue under the proposal.

Advocates attempted to bring a similar bill during the 2023 session. Under state law, however, North Dakota must first pilot any health insurance mandates on state employee health insurance before rolling it out to the full North Dakota marketplace.

“Basically, it acts kind of like a study to see how it impacts the PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) active health insurance plan that includes both state employees and employees of participating political subdivisions,” Rebecca Fricke, executive director of PERS, said.

In the end, the bill — Senate Bill 2140 — was changed to implement a two-year test run of the caps for those on the state plan.

The 2023 legislation specifically instructed PERS to bring a follow-up bill during the 2025 session extending the price caps to the general state insurance marketplace.

Angela Kritzberger, whose daughter Nina has Type 1 diabetes, was one of the advocates who spoke in favor of insulin caps during the 2023 session.

“Our hope was to get it for everyone,” Kritzberger said.

She said she plans to travel to Bismarck this week so her daughter can offer testimony in support of the 2025 bill.

The bill received recommendation from the interim Employee Benefits Programs Committee and was introduced by the House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee.