LANSING—State Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) has a simple goal: He wants Michiganders to stop paying at the pharmacy counter for the medications they need to stay alive.
A three-bill package introduced this week by Camilleri and state Sen. Chedrick Greene (D-Saginaw) would eliminate all out-of-pocket costs—including co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance—for epinephrine auto-injectors (or EpiPens), insulin and diabetes supplies, and prescription inhalers that are offered under private health insurance plans in Michigan.
Camilleri said it’s a different approach than most states, which have typically capped monthly co-pays at $25 or $35. These bills wouldn’t cap the costs; they’d eliminate them altogether.
“Michigan is drawing a clear line in the sand: if you pay for insurance, you should never be forced to ration your medication just to breathe, manage diabetes, or survive a severe allergic reaction,” Camilleri said in a statement. “These life-saving medications need to be covered.”
Camilleri is sponsoring Senate Bill 1032. He said the legislation would establish the nation’s “most comprehensive, unrestricted $0 epinephrine mandate,” forcing insurance companies to cover EpiPens for every insured resident with no age limits or annual quotas—unlike laws in other states that restrict free injectors to minors or cap patients at one twin-pack per year.
Greene is sponsoring the other two bills. Senate Bill 1033 would eliminate cost-sharing for insulin along with the hardware needed to use it—including continuous glucose monitors, glucometers, lancets, and test strips. His other bill, Senate Bill 1034, would zero out costs for prescription inhalers, including backup inhalers that insurance companies often won’t cover.
“We came to Lansing to represent regular people, and regular people are hurting,” Greene said in a press release this week. “We aren’t just capping prices, we are eliminating them.”
The bills have been referred to the state Senate Committee on Health Policy. They’ll need to pass the full state Senate and House before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer can sign them into law.
No hearings have been scheduled.
What else is happening in Lansing this month?
Camilleri said he plans to bring the Michigan Voting Rights Act—his four-bill package to protect voters from suppression at the state level—to a vote on the Senate floor next week.
He’s also pushing the state House to vote on Senate Bills 246 and 247, his legislation to regulate hazardous and toxic waste—a push that’s gained urgency after a recent court ruling blocked radioactive waste from being shipped to the Wayne Disposal facility in his district.
READ MORE: Camilleri pushes Voting Rights Act as a firewall for Michigan voters
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