\n\tJacob Gardenswartz<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLow INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post<\/a>, June 8<\/p>\n

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he\u00a0\u2014 and not President Joe Biden \u2014 deserves credit for lowering older Americans\u2019 prescription drug prices, specifically for insulin.<\/p>\n

In a June 8 post<\/a> on Truth Social, the former president\u2019s social platform, Trump wrote: \u201cLow INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump again claimed sole credit for lowering insulin prices during the June 27 presidential debate in Atlanta. After Biden touted the $35 monthly out-of-pocket cap for Medicare patients mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, Trump responded<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m the one that got the insulin down for the seniors. I took care of the seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the former president making such claims. Fox News anchor John Roberts<\/a> and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee<\/a>, a Republican, both have said the Biden administration is wrong to take credit for lowering insulin costs.<\/p>\n

Because drug prices and Medicare will likely be issues in the presidential campaign, we dug into the facts surrounding those claims.<\/p>\n

The Trump Administration\u2019s Program<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump is correct that his administration enacted a program to lower insulin costs for some patients on Medicare.<\/p>\n

In July 2020, Trump signed an executive order<\/a> establishing the \u201c Part D Senior Savings Model<\/a>,\u201d a temporary, voluntary program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that let some Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cap monthly out-of-pocket insulin copay costs at $35 or less. It covered at least one insulin product of each dosage and type.<\/p>\n

The program began Jan. 1, 2021, and ran through Dec. 31, 2023. In 2022, the Trump-era program included a total of 2,159 Medicare drug plans, and CMS estimated<\/a> that more than 800,000 Medicare beneficiaries who use insulin could have benefited from it that year.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Human Services has estimated<\/a> that more than 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries paid more than $35 a month for insulin in 2020, before Trump\u2019s program took effect. An analysis by the Rand Corp.<\/a>, a nonpartisan think tank, showed the program reduced participants\u2019 out-of-pocket insulin costs by $198 to $441 per year on average, depending on their Medicare plan.<\/p>\n

The Inflation Reduction Act Provisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Congress passed and Biden signed into law in August 2022, included an insulin provision that went further than Trump\u2019s voluntary initiative.<\/p>\n

The act did cap out-of-pocket costs of insulin for Medicare patients at $35 per month. But whereas the Trump program applied only to certain Medicare Part D plans, the act mandated that all Medicare drug programs cap out-of-pocket insulin costs \u2014 including those in what\u2019s known as Medicare Part B, which pays for medical equipment such as insulin pumps. The act\u2019s insulin provisions took effect Jan. 1, 2023, for Part D plans and July 1 of that year for Part B.<\/p>\n

The act also mandated that the out-of-pocket price cap apply to all insulin products a given Medicare plan covers, not just a subset.<\/p>\n

Taken together, those provisions mean a far greater number of Medicare beneficiaries stand to benefit from the act\u2019s insulin provisions \u2014 including people receiving insulin via a pump, who were left out of the Trump-era program.<\/p>\n

CMS estimates that more than 3.3 million Medicare beneficiaries use one or more of the common forms of insulin. Although some of those people were likely already paying less than $35 per month for their medications, the Inflation Reduction Act benefited far more than the 800,000 patients affected by Trump\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s likely a larger population than under the Trump administration\u2019s model,\u201d said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration did establish this voluntary model, and one perhaps could view that as some precedent for what we saw in the Inflation Reduction Act,\u201d Cubanski added. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s inaccurate to state that President Biden had nothing to do with enabling millions of Americans to benefit from lower insulin copayments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preliminary research shows the Inflation Reduction Act\u2019s insulin provisions had a greater average financial benefit than those in Trump\u2019s program. Insulin-using older Americans were estimated to save an annual average of $501 per person, HHS<\/a> figures show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Inflation Reduction Act has also had an impact beyond Medicare. After the law passed, some pharmaceutical companies \u2014 including Eli Lilly and Co.<\/a>, Novo Nordisk<\/a>, Sanofi<\/a>, and Civica Rx<\/a> \u2014 self-imposed price caps for all insured insulin users, not just Medicare patients. During his 2023 State of the Union address, Biden proposed expanding this benefit<\/a> to all insulin patients, and he\u2019s made that point a staple of his campaign appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m determined to make that apply to every American, not just seniors, in the second term,\u201d he said at a campaign event in May in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

The Stakes for the 2024 Election<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond insulin products, the Inflation Reduction Act caps total out-of-pocket prescription costs at $2,000 annually for people with Medicare drug plans starting in 2025, down from $3,300 this year for most Medicare beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

But every congressional Republican opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, including its insulin savings provisions, in 2022, and the law is vulnerable to repeal should Trump take the White House. Trump has repeatedly criticized the law and called for overturning some of its provisions. He has not specified how he would address its health measures.<\/p>\n

In an email exchange with KFF Health News, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt highlighted drug savings programs the former president instituted during his term in office, but repeatedly declined to extrapolate on, or defend, Trump\u2019s claim that Biden deserves no credit for lowering insulin costs.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Trump intended to maintain the Inflation Reduction Act\u2019s insulin provisions should he win a second term in office, Leavitt wrote, \u201cPresident Trump will do everything possible to lower drug costs for Americans when he\u2019s back in the White House, just like he accomplished in his first term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our Ruling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump can claim some credit for lowering insulin costs for seniors, as his administration advanced a voluntary program to do so.<\/p>\n

But his claim that Biden had \u201cNOTHING to do with it\u201d is patently false. The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law, imposed a mandatory Medicare insulin price cap that applied across the program, benefiting a significantly larger number of insulin users \u2014 including people not enrolled in Medicare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We rate Trump\u2019s claim False.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/h4>\nCivica Rx, \u201c Civica to Manufacture and Distribute Affordable Insulin<\/a>,\u201d March 3, 2022<\/p>\n
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, \u201c Part D Senior Savings Model<\/a>,\u201d accessed July 2, 2024<\/p>\n
CMS, \u201c President Trump Announces Lower Out of Pocket Insulin Costs for Medicare\u2019s Seniors<\/a>,\u201d May 26, 2020<\/p>\n
CNN, \u201c READ: Biden-Trump Debate Transcript<\/a>,\u201d June 28, 2024<\/p>\n
Eli Lilly and Co., \u201c Lilly Cuts Insulin Prices by 70% and Caps Patient Insulin Out-of-Pocket Costs at $35 Per Month<\/a>,\u201d March 1, 2023<\/p>\n
Email exchange with Karoline Leavitt, Donald J. Trump 2024 campaign national press secretary, July 1, 2024<\/p>\n
Facebook.com, post by @MikeHuckabee<\/a>, June 10, 2024<\/p>\n
Federal Registrar, \u201c Access to Affordable Life-Saving Medications<\/a>,\u201d July 24, 2020<\/p>\n
Department on Health and Human Services, \u201c Insulin Affordability and the Inflation Reduction Act: Medicare Beneficiary Savings by State and Demographics<\/a>,\u201d Jan. 24, 2023<\/p>\n
KFF, \u201c Changes to Medicare Part D in 2024 and 2025 Under the Inflation Reduction Act and How Enrollees Will Benefit<\/a>,\u201d April 20, 2023<\/p>\n
Novo Nordisk, \u201c Novo Nordisk To Lower U.S. Prices of Several Pre-Filled Insulin Pens and Vials up to 75% for People Living With Diabetes in January 2024<\/a>,\u201d March 14, 2023<\/p>\n
Phone interview with Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of KFF\u2019s Program on Medicare Policy, June 16, 2024<\/p>\n
Rand Corp., \u201c Evaluation of the Part D Senior Savings Model<\/a>,\u201d May 2023<\/p>\n
Republican Study Committee, \u201c Fiscal Sanity to Save America<\/a>,\u201d March 20, 2024<\/p>\n
Sanofi, \u201c Sanofi Capping Its Insulin to a $35 Out-of-Pocket Costs in the U.S<\/a>.,\u201d June 1, 2023<\/p>\n
Stat, \u201c Biden and Trump Are Fighting To Claim Credit for $35 Insulin. It Was Actually a Pharma Giant\u2019s Idea<\/a>,\u201d June 13, 2024<\/p>\n
The White House, \u201c FACT SHEET: President Biden\u2019s Cap on the Cost of Insulin Could Benefit Millions of Americans in All 50 States<\/a>,\u201d March 2, 2023<\/p>\n
The White House, \u201c Remarks by President Biden and Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Philadelphia, PA<\/a>,\u201d May 29, 2024<\/p>\n
The White House, \u201c Remarks of President Joe Biden \u2014 State of the Union Address as Prepared for Delivery<\/a>,\u201d Feb. 7, 2023<\/p>\n
Truthsocial.com, post by @realDonaldTrump<\/a>, June 8, 2024<\/p>\n
X.com, post by @justinbaragona<\/a>, June 3, 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jacob Gardenswartz \u201cLow INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it.\u201d Former President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post, June 8 Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he\u00a0\u2014 and not President Joe Biden \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3066,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions\/3066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}