Last week, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 107, 21-0. The bill requires insurance plans offered in Delaware to provide coverage for a medically necessary insulin pump at no cost to a covered individual.’
People with type 1 diabetes don’t produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body use sugar (glucose), a key source of energy that comes from carbohydrates. If you have type 1 diabetes you must make up for the lack of insulin with insulin therapy.
Meanwhile, people with type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but their bodies don’t use insulin properly, or they don’t produce enough insulin. Diet, exercise and medication can often work to control glucose levels. However, in certain cases, these measures aren’t enough, and insulin therapy is needed to better control blood sugar levels.
While insulin can be given by self-injection, people who take multiple daily injections of insulin may also consider using an insulin pump.
An insulin pump provides continuous delivery of short acting insulin all day long. The insulin pump substitutes the need for long acting insulin. A pump also replaces the need for multiple daily injections with a continuous insulin infusion, and also helps to improve your blood sugar levels.
Senator Marie Pinkney: “Diabetes prevalence is increasing in Delaware, rising 82% between 2000 and 2017. For each and every one of the nearly 100,000 men, women, and children living with diabetes, insulin is a daily necessity and an insulin pump can be a life-changing (even life-saving) device.Unfortunately, the other reality facing diabetes patients is inflated prices and high insurance costs. That’s unacceptable, and I have promised to demand better for all Delawareans since my first day on the campaign trail. Nobody – in any state – should have to choose between cost and their own survival.
“Yesterday, I led my chamber in unanimously passing SB 107, a bill that would require individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans to provide coverage for a medically necessary insulin pump at no cost to a covered individual. This will, finally, remove the cost burden from decisions about how to manage diabetes and may go on to save lives in this state.I’m so proud to see this bill pass. It will now head to the House, where I am confident that House sponsor Rep. David Bentz will lead it to final passage and, ultimately, Governor John Carney‘s desk.”
| Senate Bill 107 Sponsors | Yes Votes | No Votes |
| Pinkney, Brown, Gay, Hansen, Mantzavinos, Sokola, Sturgeon, Townsend, Walsh | Senate passed 21-0. Brown Ennis Gay Hansen Lockman Mantzavinos Paradee Pinkney Poore S.McBride Sokola Sturgeon Townsend Walsh Bonini Hocker Lawson Lopez Pettyjohn Richardson Wilson | None |
| Bentz, Bush, Kowalko, Lambert, S.Moore, Morrison, Wilson-Anton | ||
| Current Status: | Sent to the House. |
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