The party of no.

The Republican held majority in the Minnesota Senate perfected the art of “just say no to drugs,” this past legislative session. 

Unfortunately one of the amendments they said no  to involved the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act. 
The Act was named for 26 year old Alec Smith who died two years ago because he couldn’t afford his 13 hundred dollar a month refill.

According to the Journal of American Medicine  the cost of insulin more than tripled between 2002 and 2013. 
In recent years we are learning just how those skyrocketing costs are impacting people on low incomes. Some are rationing their medications risking complications and in some cases death.

Other Minnesotans are traveling caravan style to Canada to buy insulin at a fraction of the price paid in the USA.  Our friends up north control insulin prices through government policies, including price caps and negotiations with manufacturers.

The tally board above shows how our Republican state senators ( including  SD 11’s newly *elected state senator, Jason Rarick) voted on  the amendment designed to ensure affordable, life saving insulin to low income Minnesotans. 


Many of our state senators are out campaigning this summer ahead of the 2020 elections.  It’s the perfect time to ask why they cast their votes the way they do and have them explain how they plan to reduce the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs, including life saving insulin. 
Lives depend on it.

*Republican Senator Rarick won a special election this year to fill the remaining term of DFLer Tony Lourey in Senate District 11, which includes Pine, Carlton and portions of St. Louis and Kanabec Counties.

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