Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon’s campaign falsely claims he capped insulin costs | The Nebraska Independent
Skip to content
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 14, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images

A campaign ad for Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon falsely claims that he capped consumer costs for insulin. A local news outlet debunked the claim when Bacon’s 2022 campaign ran the same ad.

Bacon faces a competitive reelection campaign against Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas. It is a rematch of the 2022 race, which Bacon won 51.3%-48.7%.

The 30-second spot, posted on the campaign’s YouTube page on June 6, features Bacon’s wife Angie Bacon praising her husband’s record. “I’m especially proud that he’s capped insulin prices at $35 a month,” she says, “He helped expand Eppley Airfield. And he’s been such a strong supporter of our law enforcement. Don is fighting for Nebraska families — all Nebraska families.”

Although Bacon did not join fellow Republicans in Congress in 2022 in blocking the Affordable Insulin Now Act to limit the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for individuals with private insurance, he voted against President Joe BIden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which capped the out-of-pocket cost at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries. A Bacon press release at the time called the law, which also authorized Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, capped monthly co-pays for Medicare beneficiaries, and lowered the cost of clean energy, “Democrats’ reckless tax and spending package.”

In small print, Bacon’s ad cites his 2022 vote for the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which passed the House but did not make it through the Senate, where Republicans blocked an effort to include it in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

A Bacon campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

This is not the first time Bacon and his campaign have misled voters in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District about the insulin cost cap. 

In March, Vargas tweeted: “If Don Bacon was seriously about lowering costs for working families, he would have voted to cap the cost of insulin at $35. But instead he sided with Big Pharma companies who have funneled him over $80k to buy another term in power.”

“Poor Tony really struggles with this. I was one of 12 Republicans who voted to cap insulin prices at $35,” Bacon replied.

And in September 2022, the campaign used the same spot that is running now. At the time, national Democrats and News Channel Nebraska noted Bacon’s false claim about capping insulin costs and his vote against the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Bacon also opposed stand-alone legislation to authorize the government to negotiate lower prescription drug costs, arguing that fewer profits for drug companies would mean less research and development of future treatments. Vargas backs expanding the existing authorization, saying on his campaign site, “Medicare, like the VA or private insurance companies, should be able to negotiate the price they pay pharmaceutical companies for all drugs, not just 10 of them, and we need to extend the savings negotiated to all Nebraskans.”

Contrary to the Bacon campaign ad’s claim that he has supported law enforcement, he voted in April 2023 for the Limit, Save, Grow Act, a GOP-backed bill to slash federal spending by $4.5 trillion over a decade. According to an analysis by the centrist group Third Way, the bill included provisions that would have cut “up to $10 billion from federal law enforcement funding” and could have meant 28,500 fewer law enforcement officers. The bill passed in the House but was blocked by the Democratic-led Senate.

Related articles


Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter

The Nebraska Independent is a project of American Independent Media, a 501(c)(4) organization whose mission is to use journalism to educate the public, giving them the information they need about local and federal issues.