(DailyAnswer.org) – News anchor John Roberts is fighting back against President Joe Biden’s campaign after it claimed he spread a “blatant lie” that it was former President Donald Trump, not Biden, who capped insulin costs. The Biden campaign continually reminds voters that Biden introduced a $35 price cap on the medication for Americans who use Medicare. Roberts, however, has undercut Biden’s claim by telling viewers that it was the Trump administration that instituted the first $35 price cap on insulin in 2020.
The Biden campaign insisted that Biden introduced the cap under the Inflation Reduction Act, and argued that Trump wants to repeal it and raise costs of the medication for over a million citizens with Project 2025. The action Trump took to cut insulin costs was reported on in 2020. Roberts pointed out receipts disputed the claims made by the Biden campaign.
The anchor cited a May 2020 press release from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that announced Trump’s policy and the $35 price cap. He also referenced the American Diabetes Association’s then-CEO Tracey Brown, who announced the former president’s policy at a Rose Garden event. Roberts, who attended the ceremony himself, played a clip of Brown thanking Trump for helping those in need of insulin.
The Biden administration has also reached agreements with pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi to cap co-payments for insulin at $35 for those on private insurance. More than 90% of the insulin market is privately insured.
Biden has been criticized for exaggerating how much people used to pay for insulin, which he often claims was up to $400 a month. According to a study released by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2022, patients with diabetes who used Medicare or private insurance paid on average $452 yearly, not monthly, for insulin.
Roberts neglected to mention that the Biden administration actually canceled Trump’s Executive Order 13937, which was designed to reduce the costs of insulin, only to introduce the same $35 price cap under the Inflation Reduction Act. The reason given for the rescission of the executive order was concern about the financial burden it would place on health centers.
Copyright 2024, DailyAnswer.org
