Star Tribune
Settlement caps monthly insulin costs at $35 for Minnesotans with diabetes
Minnesotans with diabetes will pay no more than $35 monthly for Eli Lilly’s brand-name insulin products, at least for the next five years, under a settlement announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Keith Ellison.
The state in 2018 was the first in the U.S. to sue insulin manufacturers over price-gouging allegations — driven by stories such as the death of Alec Smith, the 26-year-old with type 1 diabetes who had been rationing medication that he couldn’t afford. His mother Nicole Smith-Holt joined Ellison at the State Capitol to announce the deal, saying, “It’s going to save so many lives.”
“It’s been 20 years they have been taking advantage of type 1 diabetics, type 2 diabetics,” she said of the drug companies, “taking advantage of the fact that they have to have this product in order to live.”
Minnesota is still suing Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, two other manufacturers of synthetic insulin, but Ellison said he hopes to reach similar terms with them soon to make their versions affordable. New York had reached similar terms last year with all three manufacturers, which also announced that they were slashing list prices of insulin at the start of 2024.
The settlement comes amid a continued surge in diabetes, a disease by which the body can’t produce insulin, or produces too little to regulate the body’s blood sugar levels. Minnesota’s adult diabetes rate surpassed 10% for the first time in state history in 2022, according to federal survey data.
The chronic disease can cause heart, kidney and nerve problems, and costs Minnesota around $5 billion each year in medical expenses and lost productivity.
“This comes not a moment too soon,” said Ellison of the settlement, adding that “no one should have to choose between affording their lives and affording to live.”
The company issued a statement after the news conference, saying the settlement “fully resolves one of the longest-running insulin pricing lawsuits and reinforces our commitment to ensuring that Minnesotans have affordable access to Lilly’s insulins. The agreement builds on our longstanding and industry leading efforts to close gaps in the U.S. healthcare system and expand access to affordable insulin.”
Wednesday’s settlement will provide discount cards for uninsured Minnesotans and options for people currently paying more than $35 per month through their health plans for insulin. It also will arrange for 15 clinics across Minnesota to provide free Eli Lilly insulin supplies, and for a MNinsulin35.org website to provide information on options under the settlement.
Many Minnesota health plans have already capped monthly insulin costs at $25 per month, but only for fully insured plans on the individual market that cover a sliver of the state’s population. Minnesotans will continue with existing options if already paying less than $35 per month, according to the settlement.
List prices for insulin had tripled since 2002, and costs also increased dramatically for other commonplace medications in recent years, despite claims by drugmakers that discount cards and other programs actually made them more affordable.
Smith-Holt’s son died in summer 2017 after he aged out of his parents’ health insurance and couldn’t afford his own coverage as a restaurant manager. He rationed medication because he couldn’t afford a $1,300 monthly refill, and died of diabetic ketoacidosis, or a critical shortage of insulin.
State legislation in Smith’s name in 2020 created a safety net program, making free or low-cost insulin available to people with diabetes who needed it urgently.
A state health report last fall found that the program was particularly helpful for Minnesotans who had no insurance or Medicare coverage, but not for underinsured people whose health plans had high cost-sharing requirements and deductibles. A survey of Minnesota pharmacists still showed that 85% felt their customers were struggling to afford insulin, despite all the recent options.
Drugmakers sued in response to the legislation, and that case is still pending.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
