Shot of love: Kudos to President Trump for attacking the cost of insulin for seniors

Tuesday afternoon at the White House, President Trump announced a push that, if successful, will cap the cost of insulin for millions of seniors on Medicare. This is very good news.

Thanks to a deal struck between insulin suppliers and insurers, drug plans offering the new benefit under Medicare Part D will have the cost of the lifesaving substance capped at $35 a month, which the White House says will save affected older folks across America an average of $446 per year.

(Ahem: The Trump White House was able to take this leap in part thanks to Medicare experimentation authority won under Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which Trump would like to subject to a death panel.)

One out of three people on Medicare has diabetes; insulin for them can run as high as $5,000 a year, large amounts of which patients themselves wind up swallowing in co-pays. Some elderly patients wind up trying to take the edge off those costs by rationing the insulin they take, a deadly gamble.

One down, thousands to go. American prescription drug costs remain a national and global embarrassment; sweeping legislation to attack the problem has been a casualty of standard partisan bickering. Here’s hoping that the Trump administration’s victory on this front -- one he will rightly boast about on the campaign trail -- prompts Democrats and Republicans to strike a compromise on taming the cost of all shots and pills.

A bill-signing would help Trump. It would also help countless other seniors and Americans.

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