LANSING, Mich. (WWMT News Channel 3 Remington Hernandez) — Medications can be the difference between living or dying for people with diabetes, asthma, or severe allergies, and some state lawmakers feel those life-saving drugs are getting too expensive.

Many states have moved to cap co-pays for drugs like insulin, epinephrin and albuterol. Michigan is not one of them, but one proposal wants to go even further.

“We are trying everything we can to, address prescription drug affordability,” State Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) said.

Camilleri and fellow state Sen. Chedrick Greene (D-Saginaw) put forth bills Wednesday to essentially take the cost off of patients.

“Let’s be clear, we need to be covering cost for residents,” Camilleri said. “That’s what these bills do, and it makes it easier for them to actually access medicine, which is the most important part of having insurance in the first place.”

Their legislation requires insurers to fully cover the cost of drugs and other necessary items like inhalers, monitors and test strips, without co-pays.

Greene says the effort is preventative, keeping people out of already strained hospitals.

“We can’t do anything if we don’t breathe, right? We can have all the money, we can pass all the legislation we can, but we’re struggling to breathe and we’re not doing anything,” Greene said. “Just simple common sense things that make life easier for some of our most vulnerable people, it’s very impactful.”