Bill caps North Dakota insulin cost at $25.00 per month

BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) – A bipartisan bill in the North Dakota Senate would require insurance companies to cap insulin costs at $25 a month.

A Hillsboro woman whose daughter has type one diabetes is fighting for it to pass.

“It’s a life-threatening disease and the only thing that they need to survive is insulin as well as everything else like the rest of us, but it’s like breathing air. If air would cost you, what would you pay for the cost to breathe?” Angela Kritzberger said.

Kritzberger’s daughter Nina is 14 and was diagnosed with type one diabetes at seven.

“She’s been the only one with it in our school system, in our small school, so it’s something that nobody else really understands which is hard when you’re a kid,” Kritzberger explained.

Kritzberger’s health plan made her pay a $1,000 deductible which only lasted three weeks. She says in the last two years she paid $40,000 a year for premiums, deductibles and co-insurance as a self-employed farmer in Hillsboro. Kritzberger is proud of Nina and wants to make sure she has a successful life.

“I don’t want to have to pass legislation to remember our daughter I want her to be an active part of this society and contribute to it and be able to continue to grow and thrive. She’s my little hero,” Kritzberger said.

The bill was introduced by Democratic State Senator Tim Mathern of Fargo and Republican State Senator Dick Dever of Bismarck.

“Too many of our citizens suffer from diabetes and the cost of care are too burdensome. This bill essentially directs our public policy to spread these costs throughout the larger population through our larger insurance mandate process.”

Nina has delivered a letter to Governor Burgum asking him to support the bill. Kritzberger has also gone to Bismarck to testify to the Senate Human Services Committee.

“Affordable access to necessary lifesaving medicines and supplies should be the minimum standard of care,” Kritzberger said.

Twenty two states, including Minnesota, have passed laws capping out-of-pocket insulin costs.

Categories: Health, Local News, North Dakota News, Politics / Elections