Biden Hits Republicans, Drug Companies in Healthcare Speech

WASHINGTON — President Biden struck an unusually combative tone on Tuesday during a speech about healthcare costs, criticizing Republicans for trimming a bill to lower insulin costs and for wanting to sunset federal laws every 5 years, something he suggested could endanger Medicare and Social Security.

“If you’re on Medicare and you have diabetes, the cost of insulin will be capped at $35 a month per prescription,” Biden said during a speech in the White House Rose Garden. He was referring to one of the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act recently passed by Congress.

Rather than just Medicare beneficiaries, “we want it to be the case for everybody,” Biden said. “We want to cut the cost of insulin for everyone, including hundreds of thousands of children who have type 1 diabetes but, unfortunately, we had that in the bill but the Republicans were able to get the votes to strike that out.”

Noting that insulin costs pharmaceutical companies $10 per vial to produce even though they charged some patients 30 or more times that amount, he said, “Just imagine being a parent of a kid suffering from type 1 diabetes, knowing you didn’t have the money … How in God’s name do you look at that child?”

“Just imagine if we’re able to provide this for everyone in America at $35 a shot,” said Biden. “We’re going to go back at this and we’re going to lower the cost of life-saving medicines for children as well as families for everybody, whether they’re on Medicare or not.”

Biden also criticized drug companies and called reducing prescription drug costs for consumers “one of my top priorities.” “We pay more for prescription drugs than any other advanced nation in the world, and there’s no good reason for it,” the president said. “For years, many of us have been trying to fix this problem, but for years — for years — Big Pharma has stood in the way. This year, the American people won and Big Pharma lost.”

“After years of Big Pharma blocking it, Medicare will finally get the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices,” he continued. “Seniors will see their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs be limited to $2,000 a year … It’s going to be a godsend.”

And there is other good news for seniors, Biden said. “The Department of Health and Human Services announced that the premium for Part B will in fact decrease this year … For the first time in more than a decade, it’s going to go down.” And thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the price of vaccinations such as the shingles vaccine, which some seniors have had to pay $100 or $200 for, “will drop to zero” for Medicare beneficiaries.

Biden also criticized a proposal from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to “sunset” all laws — including Medicare and Social Security — every 5 years unless Congress votes to keep them. “It means every 5 years you either cut it, reduce it, or completely eliminate Social Security and Medicare,” he said.

“And Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) thinks waiting 5 years is too long,” Biden added. “He wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every single year in every budget. If Congress doesn’t vote to keep it, goodbye … He’s the same person who said that if Republicans gained control of Congress, they should once again try to repeal the Affordable Care Act — which, by the way, is the only reason why millions of people with pre-existing conditions were able to get affordable care.”

“I have a different idea,” the president said. “I’ll protect those programs and make them stronger … Over the last few years, we’ve faced some of the most difficult challenges in our history. We’re actually making progress, helping folks get just a little more freedom. Lowering healthcare costs and strengthening Medicare is a big part of progress that we’ve been making.”

The president closed on his usual optimistic note, but included a bit of caution. “We have to remember who in God’s name we are — we’re the United States of America,” he said. “There is simply nothing beyond our capacity to get done if we do it together. Pray that we can figure out how to come together better than we have so far, because a lot of people’s lives and futures depend upon it.”

Sen. Roger Marshall, MD (R-Kan.), criticized Biden’s remarks during an appearance on Fox News. “We want to lower the cost of prescription drugs, especially the out-of-pocket expenses, but the president’s plan is going to decrease innovation,” Marshall said.

“It’s going to prevent us from getting a cure for Alzheimer’s and for cancers as well,” Marshall added. “And, really what he does is drive up the cost of healthcare — so they are just going to pass along that insulin cost to other people within the plan.”