Brad Finstad Healthcare Cost of Living Minnesota

On His First Day in Congress, Brad Finstad Voted Against the $35 Insulin Cap for Seniors. He Called It 'the Common-Sense Minnesota Vote.'

Sworn in on August 12, 2022, Brad Finstad cast his first votes that same day — against the law that capped insulin at $35 a month for people on Medicare. In 2023 he was one of only 40 House Republicans to vote against a bill to rein in the drug middlemen who drive up prescription prices.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 08, 2026

On His First Day in Congress, Brad Finstad Voted Against the $35 Insulin Cap for Seniors. He Called It 'the Common-Sense Minnesota Vote.' — Photo: Brad Finstad for U.S. Congress, via American Journal News

Brad Finstad was sworn into Congress on August 12, 2022, after winning a special election for southern Minnesota's 1st District. He cast his first votes that same day: two procedural votes against bringing the Inflation Reduction Act to the floor, then a vote against the Inflation Reduction Act itself — the law that capped insulin at $35 a month for people on Medicare. It passed the House 220 to 207. Finstad voted no.

He explained himself to MinnPost that day: "To me the common-sense Minnesota vote on this is 'no.'"

American Journal News revisited that vote on October 7, 2026, as Finstad runs for a third full term. It was the first of many.

What he voted against

Finstad's stated reason for voting no wasn't about insulin at all. He told MinnPost the law would fund "87,000 more IRS agents instead of addressing the high cost of groceries and gas." MinnPost noted at the time that the new IRS money would let the agency hire nearly 87,000 employees by 2031 — but that most would replace retiring workers and include customer-service and technology staff, not just enforcement agents.

So the vote against cheaper insulin for seniors rested on a talking point the reporter covering it had to correct on the spot.

Then he sided with the drug middlemen

In December 2023, the House voted on the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act. Among other things, it went after pharmacy benefit managers — the middlemen who sit between insurance plans, pharmacies and drug makers. Critics say these companies profit from higher drug prices and limit what patients can get.

The bill passed 320 to 71. Most Republicans voted for it. Brad Finstad was one of only 40 House Republicans who voted no.

American Journal News reports that Finstad took $1,500 from a lobbyist representing pharmacy benefit managers before that vote.

Then he voted to cut Medicaid

In July 2025, Finstad voted for Trump's budget bill, the law that cuts federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years, according to the Texas Tribune. He praised it as securing "wins for southern Minnesotans and for the American people."

American Journal News reports he took $2,000 from pharmaceutical industry lobbyists right around that vote.

Line them up:

2022: No on capping insulin at $35 for seniors.
2023: No on reining in the drug middlemen — one of just 40 Republicans.
2025: Yes on the budget bill that cut Medicaid.

Easy to vote this way when you don't have to face anyone

It helps that Finstad doesn't have to answer for these votes in person. He hasn't held an open, in-person town hall in his district — but talking to him at a fundraiser at the Mankato Golf Club started at $250.

The short version

On his first day in Congress, Brad Finstad voted against the law that capped insulin at $35 a month for people on Medicare, calling it "the common-sense Minnesota vote." In 2023 he was one of 40 House Republicans to vote against a bill reining in pharmacy benefit managers, and in 2025 he voted for Trump's budget bill, which cuts Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years.