Texas Senator's Near-Death Walk Led to Insulin Cost Cap

James Talarico, who became the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since 1988, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 28 after a 25-mile campaign walk nearly killed him.

During his first run for the Texas House of Representatives, Talarico hiked the full length of his district to meet voters. Midway through the route, he vomited twice and felt exhausted, but he attributed the symptoms to dehydration and finished the walk. His family found him asleep for 36 hours after he arrived home and rushed him to an emergency room. A blood sugar test there immediately revealed type 1 diabetes. Talarico stated he was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that can lead to coma and death without insulin.

The hospital stay did not end the financial shock. Talarico left the intensive care unit and went to a pharmacy to buy his first 30-day supply of insulin. The bill was $684. Talarico said he did not have that amount of cash and paid with a credit card. He linked this specific experience to his later work as a state legislator, where he helped pass laws capping insulin copays at $25 per month. That legislation also allowed Texas to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

Talarico now seeks to apply those same policy goals in Washington. In a message from his campaign, the Democrat criticized Republican proposals to cut funding for Medicaid and Medicare programs.