TAMPA, Fla. — A bill scheduled to go before a Senate committee Thursday is aimed at changing the way people can get insulin in emergency situations.

SB 516/HB 201 allows pharmacists to supply a patient in need of insulin until they can secure a current prescription from their doctor.

What You Need To Know

  • Bill would allow pharmacists to issue emergency doses of insulin if they can’t readily obtain refill authorization

  • Emergency refills allowed up to 3 times a calendar year 

  • Bill also includes insulin-related supplies 

  • Read More: SB 516

Under the bill, should there be a miscommunication between a doctor that causes a delay at the pharmacy or an outdated prescription, the patient can get insulin until the situation is rectified. This is also effective for insulin related supplies.

The bill also expands the number of times a pharmacist can dispense an emergency refill from the current law of one time a year to up to three nonconsecutive times per calendar year.

Ercilia Colon’s two adult sons have a type-1 diabetes diagnoses. While they’re both adults and live on their own, she said the stress of making sure both her sons have what they need to live and thrive has never gone away.

Colon said over the last decade her sons have been in situations where either their pharmacy was out of insulin, or it spoiled, so they needed to secure an emergency dose. If either of them doesn’t get insulin as scheduled, it could be fatal.

“When you don’t know if you’re going to live to see tomorrow because you can’t get that prescription filled, that really messes with your mind,” she said. “You’re at the mercy of insurance companies, doctors, and pharmacies… and it’s really a bitter pill to swallow.”

Colon said no matter how much you plan and stay ahead of it, things do happen. Even a refrigerator breaking, leaving a dose in the car, or traveling on an airplane too long without refrigeration can cause a dose to spoil and result in an emergency situation.

“You try to really stay ahead of your prescription to make sure you never run out,” she said.

While Colon said it is a positive that legislators are paying attention to the issues that arise with insulin, she doesn’t agree with the three emergency doses per year limit.

“We’re super far from where we need to be, but a conversation is not wasted,” she said.

In a written statement, Veronica De La Garza, Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy with the American Diabetes Association, commends the legislation for working to update the current law on emergency insulin refills by recognizing there are now various ways to take insulin and thus expands access to emergency refills of insulin in whatever form it is prescribed. 

“A form of this legislation has been enacted in many other states and is sometimes referred to as “Kevin’s Law” after Kevin Houdeshell, an Ohioan who ran out of insulin and was unable to reach his physician over the New Year’s holiday to get a new prescription. After rationing the last of his insulin until he could see his doctor after the holiday, he went into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and died,” De La Garza wrote in a statement.

The Senate bill will go before the Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services on Thursday. The House version of the bill is scheduled for a second reading.