Diabetes patients' access to affordable insulin tends not to be among the big front-burner issues confronting lawmakers in Washington these days, but a bill to cap insulin prices at $35 a month, which passed in the House Thursday, deserves swift and overwhelming Senate approval — unless skeptics think consigning millions of Americans to poverty and death is a winning political formula. Try as Republicans might to paint this as just another spendthrift liberal attempt to help explode the budget and socialize medical care, the life-and-death reality of skyrocketing insulin prices is something even GOP cynics cannot continue to ignore.

For those who call themselves "pro-life" lawmakers, the Affordable Insulin Now Act could determine whether some people will live or die, and whether the cost of capping their insulin expenses is worth the lives the bill would save. Rep. Ann Wagner, who labels herself "unapologetically pro-life," was among the 193 House Republicans who voted against the bill. Ten House Republicans joined Democrats in supporting it. At least 10 Senate Republicans must join Democrats for this bill to become law.

Today, even insured diabetes patients must cover exceedingly high monthly insulin costs on their own. As Missourian Hattie Saltzman wrote on our op-ed page early last month, she was diagnosed at age 16 with Type 1 diabetes. By age 20, her monthly insulin bill was $550 — an expense she simply could not afford. Her diabetic father also faced unaffordable insulin expenses that weren't covered by health insurance. In order to survive, they rationed their doses trying other tricks, like collecting sample insulin pens from helpful doctors and asking for donations of leftover insulin from patients who had died.

Her horror story is hardly unique. More than 37 million Americans — about a tenth of the population — suffer from diabetes. Many don't even know they have it. But for acute cases, access to insulin is a question of survival.

Republican opponents argue that this bill amounts to medical socialism. Insurance companies hate the bill, and since they rank among the biggest donors to congressional campaigns — with Wagner ranking 14th highest among all House and Senate members for insurance-lobby donations, according to OpenSecrets.org — it's hardly surprising that they're willing to fight on insurers' behalf. They cite a Congressional Budget Office report that the bill could incur costs, heavily borne by the private sector, of about $2 billion a year.

Brian Newell, a spokesperson for the top pharmaceuticals lobbying group, told Politico: "No amount of spin by the insurance industry changes the fact that they determine what patients pay at the pharmacy. It's outrageous that insurance companies are forcing patients to pay more for medicines than what insurance companies pay."

Politicians like Wagner who claim the "pro-life" mantle but who effectively vote pro-death deserve to be called out by voters for their hypocrisy.

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