President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Jay Paul | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump acknowledged Saturday that insulin prices are lower under President Joe Biden, but he still wants voters to recognize his own administration.
“Low INSULIN PRICES for millions of Americans was achieved by me and the Trump Administration, not the corrupt Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “This all happened long before he so sadly took office. He’s just trying to take credit for the actions of others, in this case ME!”
The comment comes as Trump lags behind Biden on health care, a top voter priority as the November election approaches.
For example, a May poll by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found Biden with an 11-point lead over Trump on the issue of ensuring access to affordable health insurance.
Biden was ahead in the poll on several other health-related issues, although the candidates were relatively divided on how to address health care costs. The survey surveyed 1,479 U.S. adults between April 23 and May 1. The error rate is +/- 3 percentage points.
The two candidates’ first in-person presidential debate is expected to take place on June 27.
Insulin price caps have become a key piece of evidence for Biden’s broader economic argument in the campaign against Trump.
As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden enacted a series of provisions aimed at lowering drug prices for seniors, including capping the price of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare recipients. The president continues to push for a more universal insulin cap that also covers younger people.
“Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month!” Biden said in his State of the Union address in March. “And now I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it!”
The Democratic incumbent is trying to use lower insulin costs as evidence that he has helped lower consumer costs despite stubbornly high inflation that has loomed over the U.S. economy’s post-pandemic recovery.
As for Trump, the former president signed an executive order in the final year of his term to set his own $35 price cap on insulin. Biden later paused that policy when he took office as part of a larger freeze to allow his administration to review new regulations set to take effect.
But memories of Trump-era health care policies have still clouded some voters’ views of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s track record. A CNBC All-America Economic poll released in December showed Biden leading Trump by 19 points on health care.
Trump spent most of his time as president unsuccessfully attempting to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Care Act without offering viable alternative health care. The ACA provides health insurance to about 45 million Americans, according to a White House estimate in March.
Trump has reiterated his promise to replace Obamacare during the 2024 campaign, although he still hasn’t spelled out what that replacement would look like.
“I am not running to repeal the ACA like crooked Joe Biden says everywhere,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social account in April. “We’re going to make the ACA much better than it is now, and much more cost-effective for you.”
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2024-06-08 17:00:41
www.cnbc.com
