President Biden on Tuesday celebrated recent prescription drug reforms, proclaiming that Democrats had finally delivered an elusive win against Big Pharma.
Speaking on the White House Rose Garden, Biden praised the Inflation Reduction Act, passed
in early August, as “one of the most significant laws in our history.”
The sweeping bill included provisions allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the first time in its history and also placed caps on the cost of certain
medications, though this too applied largely to seniors on Medicare.
During his speech, Biden called out Republicans in Congress for not supporting the provisions in the bill aimed at lowering health care costs. “I wish I could say
the Republicans supported this progress and reducing health care costs and strengthening Medicare. That would be good for all of America, but [they] had a very different idea,” he said.
“Every single Republican voted against the Inflation
Reduction Act. When it actually came time to do something about inflation around the kitchen table, every one of them said no.”
Biden referred to the signing of the bill as the fulfillment of a promise to the American people that has gone
unanswered for decades.
“We pay more for prescription drugs than any other advanced nation in the world and there’s no good reason for it. For years, many of have been trying to fix this problem, but for years Big Pharma has stood in the
way. Not this year,” Biden said.
“This year, the American people won and Big Pharma lost.” Biden also noted that Medicare premiums would be going down for the first time in more than 10 years, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services announced earlier on Tuesday.
“Millions of seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare, that means more money in their pockets while still getting the care they need,” he said.
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