LOWER PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES? ..... LOTS A LUCK THERE JOE

Biden accuses pharmaceutical companies of inflating prescription drug prices as he urges Senate to pass his Build Back Better plan and reduce costs for patients

 

By Rob Crilly 

Daily Mail

December 6, 2021

President Biden said his Build Back Better plan would reduce drug prices as he called again for the Senate to pass his massive spending bill in the face of centrist opposition

 

President Joe Biden on Monday accused pharmaceutical companies of inflating prescription drug costs as he touted the Build Back Better Act's provisions to reduce  prices and called on the Senate to pass the legislation. 

If passed, he said it would impose penalties on drug companies that raise prices faster than inflation and cap insulin prices at $35 a month. 

'One study found that Americans paid 10 times as much as other countries for insulin,' said Biden during a speech in the White House East Room.

'These price increases are about companies looking to maximize profits and nobody standing up for the patients.'

The second plank of Biden's domestic agenda is currently stalled, awaiting passage through the Senate, where two hold-out Democrats have managed to strip out hundreds of billions of dollars in spending. 

That still leaves about $1.85 trillion in proposals, directed largely at green energy and social spending.

His comments were part of an effort to shift public debate to the sort of pocketbook issues that affect voters rather than the big, headline numbers.  

After he delivered his speech, Biden was asked whether it would pass by the Democrats' original target of Christmas. 

 

Iesha Meza, who described how she had been forced to ration her insulin with almost lethal consequences, sending her into a coma

 

'As early as we can get it,' he replied. 'I'm willing to get it done no matter how long it takes.'

Lowering drug prices is one of the most popular parts of the proposals and a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 83 percent of respondents backed government efforts to reduce costs to patients.

Biden used that to make a fresh plea for his plans to be pushed through. 

'To really solve this problem, we need the Senate to follow the House of Representatives' lead and pass my Build Back Better bill,' he said.

Before his speech, Biden met patients with diabetes who told him of their struggles to pay for insulin.

They included Iesha Meza, who described how she had been forced to ration her drugs with almost lethal consequences.

'I slipped into a diabetic coma, and I could have died,' she said before introducing the president.

'This was a terrifying incident. I was ashamed that I couldn't afford my life saving medication.'

 

Biden met diabetes patients at the White House before delivering remarks in the East Room

 

Biden outlined how his legislation would help.

He said, if passed, it would limit the cost of insulin to $35 per month for Medicare patients and anyone with private insurance. 

'I've long said health care should be a right not a privilege in this country,' he said. 

'And the women I've met with today, the millions like them, are the reason why. 

'People for whom the cost of one drug is the difference between hope and fear, life and death, dignity and dependence.'

But Drugmakers oppose the move and say the proposal would damage their ability to develop new medicines.

Stephen J. Ubl, president of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said: 'A damaging bill jammed through a partisan process will not provide patients struggling to afford their medicines meaningful relief. 

'The bill inserts the heavy hand of government into America’s medicine cabinet, and we know when government bureaucrats set the price of medicine, patients ultimately have less access to treatments and cures.'