State lawmakers in both parties said Thursday that despite partisan differences, it is still possible to pass an aid program for diabetics who cannot afford insulin before the regular legislative session resumes in February.
The need is desperate, House members said at a Thursday hearing of the Health and Human Services Finance Committee, the second of two legislative hearings on insulin this week as lawmakers search for a compromise they could enact in a special session.
Committee chairwoman Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, said the next step should be meetings between members of the Senate, the House and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's staff. The two sides, however, remain far apart on how to structure and pay for a state insulin program.
The House measure, which Democrats proposed last session, has been revised after a series of meetings with legislators and community members this summer. The new version presented Thursday lowers income limits to include more Minnesotans and allows diabetics to pick up insulin at pharmacies on the same day they request it.
Previously, the House emergency insulin plan would have required people to wait days before getting the medication.
Meanwhile, a recent proposal from Republican Sen. Eric Pratt would apply to urgent situations but not same-day emergencies. Diabetics would need to apply online then visit doctors who would provide the medication.
Both programs are needed, said diabetes advocate Nicole Smith-Holt, who has been a driving force in the Legislature's work on the issue. Her son, Alec, died after rationing his insulin, and the House measure is named after him.
"Alec's bill is going to touch on that emergency situation, whereas the Pratt bill ... once we get out of this emergency situation, this is the secondary bill that would help. So I believe that they would go hand in hand," Smith-Holt said Thursday.
