In the News

Members of Congress from both parties expressed immense frustration on Wednesday at big increases in insulin prices and vowed to work together on legislation to prevent more people from dying because they could not afford the lifesaving medicine.

Representative Earl L. Carter, Republican of Georgia, said at the end of a three-hour hearing with pharmaceutical executives and middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, "You've done something here today that we've been trying to do in Congress for years, and that is to create bipartisanship."

Colorado public health officials routinely allow oil and gas companies to begin drilling and fracking without obtaining federally required permits that limit the amount of pollution they can discharge into the air.

The state Department of Public Health and Environment allows companies to release emissions without permits under a decades-old exemption that gives a 90-day window, the Denver Post reported Sunday.

"We believe it is necessary to the goal of collecting actual emissions data and working with real numbers, rather than models or estimates." Brian Cain, Extraction Oil and Gas spokesman

Colorado public health officials have let oil and gas companies begin drilling and fracking for fossil fuels at nearly 200 industrial sites across the state without first obtaining federally required permits that limit how much toxic pollution they can spew into the air.

The only three companies that manufacture insulin in the United States will testify in the House next week about their pricing practices.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee, said the three companies— Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi— will testify April 10.

"We want to know why the cost of this life-saving drug has skyrocketed in recent years, and why they're not offering more lower-cost alternatives to patients," DeGette said.

U.S. Representative Diana DeGette's bill to halt federal marijuana prohibition in states where cannabis is legal was introduced on Monday, April 1, but she insists the issue is no joke.

Colorado's Rep. Diana DeGette, representing the 1st Congressional District, introduced a bill aimed at bringing down the cost of insulin. The bill would make permanent a new FDA policy which would speed up the approval of generic version of certain drugs.

That would include insulin.

DeGette met with Colorado patients to talk about their struggle the cost of insulin.

Many said the price increases force them to make impossible decisions.

Insulin users say the skyrocketing cost of the drug is forcing them to make some tough decisions. Rep. Diana DeGette met with some diabetics in Colorado this week to discuss the issue.

Sierra Lucero was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was just 10 years old. As an adult, when she was kicked off of Medicaid because she made too much money at $12/hour, she had to start paying for it and health insurance out of pocket.

That has led to some impossible decisions.

With the smokestacks of a large Suncor Energy oil refinery behind her, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette announced Tuesday that she will soon introduce legislation requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to set strict emissions standards for hydrogen cyanide, a pollutant that is pumped out of the refinery and into the air above Denver daily.