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President Joe Biden on Monday touted aspects of his Build Back Better social spending bill aimed at reducing the costs of prescription drugs as Democrats worked to pass the legislation by Christmas.
In a televised address from the White House, Biden said the $2 trillion bill would address “outrageously high” drug costs in part by capping insulin costs for diabetic seniors at $35 per month and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
“There aren’t a lot of things that almost every American can agree on, but I think it’s safe to say that all of us, whatever our background, our age, where we live, we can agree that prescription drugs are outrageously expensive in this country,” Biden said.
“You know, even if you think this doesn’t affect you, it does,” he added. “Everyone has less money in their pockets because high drug costs make health insurance more expensive for every American.”
“We pay the highest prescription drug prices of any developed nation in the world,” Biden said. “We pay about two to three times what other countries pay for the same drug.”
A 2019 analysis by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee found that Americans pay, on average, nearly four times more for prescription drugs than other countries.
Biden pushed for Medicare provisions to slash out-of-pocket costs for seniors and allow the program to negotiate prices for a limited number of medicines. Specifically, the administration is calling for Medicare to negotiate prices for drugs seniors get at the pharmacy counter through its part D program and drugs administered in a doctor’s office through its part B program.
Drugs would become eligible for negotiation once they have been on the market for a fixed number of years, the White House said in a fact sheet shared last month. Medicare would negotiate up to 10 drugs per year during 2023, with those prices taking effect in 2025 — increasing to up to 20 drugs per year.
Democrats announced an agreement had been reached on the plan to lower prescription drug costs, including reducing the price of insulin, in early November.
The Build Back Better bill has “three key steps” to lower the costs for Americans with diabetes, the president said – capping cost-sharing of insulin, expanding insurance coverage and preventing drug makers from raising prices without justification.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter to colleagues Monday he is aiming to pass the bill by Christmas, but its fate in the upper chamber remained unclear as Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona had yet to voice support for it.
