The One-Minute Meeting

Today’s Morning Meeting includes some rare good news about lower drug prices and some truly concerning news about the rise in the second most deadly cancer in America.

Eli Lilly, feeling pressure from competitors, announced with President Joe Biden plans to cap out-of-pocket expenses for insulin at $35. That price cap applies to people who have insurance as well as those who do not. It starts right away.

Until today, the price of insulin in America was 10 times higher than anywhere else in the world. One in four insulin users — and there are more than eight million of them — say the price of the drug has been so high they have had to ration their use, even at the risk of their lives.

The American Cancer Society’s just-released data shows an unexplained rise in colorectal cancer cases among younger adults. The organization announced Wednesday that 20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2019 were in patients under 55, which is almost double the rate from 1995.

And this item will invite opinions from every direction. The president and first lady recently went out to dinner in D.C. and, gasp, they ordered the same thing: rigatoni. Let me explain why people are saying they would never date a person who orders the same entrée while others say it’s all just pre-pasta-rous.