Story highlights Joni Ernst was grilled by a constituent who cited his diabetes for his health care concerns

The Republican senator said she was limited as to what she could do due to Senate rules

(CNN) In a tense exchange during a town hall meeting, 54-year-old Craig Gill told GOP Sen. Joni Ernst that he had been living with Type 1 diabetes since he was seven and he feared that he would no longer be able to afford insulin if Republicans move forward to replace the Affordable Care Act with legislation that loosens protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

"You're worried about how much somebody's premium is, what about how much it is going to cost me to live?" Gildare asked Ernst at a town hall in Harlen, Iowa."Because they take the ability for me to get my insulin away, and my other medications. I'm blind in one eye because of my diabetes because I didn't take care of myself for a while when I was younger. I take care of myself now. I tried to take and use an insulin pump. It didn't work. But I take shots. I take multiple shots a day. I go through six bottles of FAK and insulin a month, and three bottles of long acting insulin a month. We're talking $3,000-$4,000 a month worth of insulin. And you want to take that away from us. Why?"

Ernst interjected "No, I do not want to take that away from you, sir, don't put words in my mouth, first. I don't want to do that."

After a back-and-forth over whether Obamacare-controlled insulin costs, Ernst said Republicans needed to find a way to control the cost of life-saving drugs.

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