President Biden speaks at a meeting at the White House on Sept. 26, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)
President Biden doubled down on his pledge to lower health care costs on Tuesday, touting a Medicare premium drop for 2023 while slamming Republicans for opposing the Inflation Reduction Act and its drug cost controls.
Driving the news: The Biden administration announced Tuesday that the monthly premium for outpatient care coverage under Medicare will drop roughly 3% in 2023.
- Medicare imposed a steep premium hike this year, in large part due to the high price of an Alzheimer's drug for which it wound up only offering limited coverage.
What he's saying: Pointing to limited drug price negotiations authorized by the IRA, Biden said, "For years many of us have been trying to fix this problem, but for years, Big Pharma has stood in the way."
- "This year, the American people won ... Medicare will finally get the power to negotiate lower prescription drugs."
- "Under Donald Trump, my Republican friends had no problem enacting a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans, the biggest corporations ... and massively increased the federal debt."
- "I wish I could say Republicans supported this progress and reducing health care costs and strengthening Medicare ... But they have a very different idea," he said.
Worth noting: Senate Republicans blocked the $35 cap on out-of-pocket spending on insulin for patients enrolled in private insurance.