Biden Retracts Trump’s Policies Lowering Insulin, Epi-Pen Costs
Biden administration is not moving swiftly on Trump plan for Canadian drug imports, either.
This week, it is being reported the White House is moving forward with removing a health care policy established by President Donald Trump designed to bring down the price of insulin and epi-pens.
Biden’s bid to retract the rule was approved on Monday, as reported by Politico, with the expectation that the Department of Health and Human Services could publish the retraction within the coming days.
The measure, signed off on under the previous administration in December, aimed to require some 340B community health centers to deliver savings to low-income patients for insulin and epinephrine in a bid to bring down unaffordable prices.
Spokespeople for the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services did not return FOX Business’ request for comment.
Just after Biden was Inaugurated, USA Today “fact checked” the claim that such a move was planned. Once again, the press is forced to do a fact-reversal, one in a long stream of many we have covered at Legal Insurrection.
For diabetic patients, out-of-pocket costs for insulin can be a major expense, whether they are insured in the commercial market, enrolled in Medicare, or have no insurance. The savings Trump created was substantial.
In March, the administration announced a plan to impose an upper limit on what seniors pay at the pharmacy counter; $35 a month. Starting in January 2021 Medicare beneficiaries will have more than 1,600 Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans to choose from that will provide a range of insulin products at a maximum of a $35 monthly co-payment. This is lower than the typical $47 co-payment plans impose in 2020.
To put it in perspective, the average cost of a unit of insulin for a diabetic in the US is about $98; whereas, it is $12 in Australia and $7.50 in Canada.
In related news, Trump had arranged for the importation of insulin from Canada to help reduce costs for Americans. Biden seems hesitant to move forward with those plans.
The Biden administration said Friday it has no timeline on whether it will allow states to import drugs from Canada, an effort that was approved under President Donald Trump as a key strategy to control costs.
Six states have passed laws to start such programs, and Florida, Colorado and New Mexico are the furthest along in plans to get federal approval.
The Biden administration said states still have several hurdles to get through, including a review by the Food and Drug Administration, and such efforts may face pressures from the Canadian government, which has warned its drug industry not to do anything that could cause drug shortages in that country.
“Although two proposals have been submitted to FDA, no timeline exists for the agency to make a decision. Thus, the possible future injuries to Plaintiffs’ members are overly speculative and not imminent,” the Biden administration wrote in a court filing late Friday seeking to dismiss a lawsuit from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry trade group. Drugmakers are asking the court to overturn the rule set by the Health and Human Services Department in October that for the first time approved allowing states to import drugs from Canada.
The Biden presidency is proving to be very costly and painful for average Americans.
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Comments
And Big Pharma is supposedly a Republican backer, yet here is a big handout to them screwing the public.
“…screwing the public”
Not screwing the public in general, just screwing us citizens. If you are here illegally you may lift up your head and rejoice. Lean back in your luxury hotel suite and sing, “Let the good times roll.”
The democrat party is the party of big business. The average person shall be damned.
Don’t try to make sense of this in terms of any economic principles or corporate alliances. None of those things are responsible for this action. This is simply the new “BIDEN 20” street gang overwriting all the tag graffiti of the old “TRUMP 16” gang.
You’re absolutely right.
Henry,
The analogy has a great deal of truth to it. That is the reality of the intellectual starting point for these policy changes; ‘orange man bad’.
I remember when being big business stooges was RINOs. Dems could not stand that, they now outnumber Rinos at the trough.
Oh I know, supposedly is the key there. Leftists have pushed that meme for decades but it’s not true. Big corporations love big government.
This will Piss Off a lot of people – including million of Democrats.
When will people realize – this is not the Democratic Party that you remember from 10 years ago. The Party has made a sharp turn left and has been radicalized by Marxists who will never come right out and say their Marxist because they are deceitful and sneaky.
I’ve been trying to get that through my JFK Dem parents’ heads for years. Pointing out to them that JFK would be too conservative for a lot of the GOPe just doesn’t register at all, even when you point out specific policies and who supports them now. These are theoretically intelligent people, but when it comes to politics, all they can see is “(D)=Good, (R)=Evil”
It’s a human failing. Most people see D vs. R exactly the same way they see Yankees vs. Mets, and they vote with the same informed deliberation that they would buy season tickets.
Not sure it’s so much for big pharma or an attempt to buy manchin’s votes.
From 2016
Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, is the CEO of Mylan, which manufactures EpiPens. The company is under fierce criticism for raising the prices on the emergency allergy drug by 500 percent while giving raises to its executives, including Bresch.
IS it Big Pharma, or just Quid Pro Joe and his administration working to undo every even minutely positive thing which Donald J. Trump and his administration accomplished? From some of the issues reversed it seems that the latter is, at least, the greater reason in all these reversals.
Why?
Because the Democrats are the party of big business.
The same way they withheld news about the vaccine until after the election.
“Because the Democrats are the party of big business.”
Well, yeah. Back to high prices for necessary medical items, as well as just about everything else you can think of.
Because of course he does.
And the main media…crickets
And he’s is this while in Europe?
I want to throw up when Insee these supposedly leadership all acting like HS mean “in crowd”. All the men have lost their cajones, all the elbow pumping, macron amd coven hugging, Princess Kate, that was disappointing, don’t know why, off to lunch with the Melania want to be..
These are the World leaders?
Putin and China probably can not believe their luck
Doomed is a word that comes to mind
So…. what’s new? Well, read Victor Davis Hanson’s latest… those that wanted to take over the country in the ’60’s and ’70’s have done just that but are all the things they were “opposed” to. It’s different…when they do it.
Jesus, as if federal government policy hasn’t enriched Big Pharma enough in the past 18 months.
Where are all the libs that were crying about “Fascism” for the past four years? Look around people, look around.
They didn’t ‘cry out about “fascism”‘ because they dislike Fascism. They did it because it was politically convenient. It’s not so convenient anymore.
How close to home does it need to hit before the left starts pulling its head out?
You appear to believe “the Left” isn’t in favor of what the Socialist/Communist Party is doing. They ARE the Socialist/Communist Party and want the chaos and upheaval which accompanies all this intended destruction of our Constitutional Republic.
The issue I have with such articles is they never say what they mean by “insulin”. Plain human insulin is dirt cheap but has undesirable properties that make it hard to use. As I recall, it doesn’t even require a prescription.
Insulin analogs like Novolog, Levemir, and Lantus have some very nice properties but are patented and very expensive, close to $600 for a package of 5 300-unit pens. To make matters worse, they are nearing the end of their patents and nobody is filing to produce a generic, perhaps because the molecular manipulations required to create insulin analogs are, so far, neither easy nor cheap.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have come out with authorized generics at about half price, but the introduction of a true generic to the market is needed to really get prices down.
The question then is what kind of insulin does Australia and Canada refer to in reporting such low prices, and where did that $98/unit price come from for American prices.
Not sure what you mean by “plain human insulin.” Medical insulin prior to the 1980s was all pig- and cow-derived. The FDA no longer allows them in the US except for veterinary use (Vetsulin). An individual may import pork insulin from a Commonwealth country for personal use with a prescription; the cow insulin is no longer available as the only remaining company has discontinued it.
One wonders at the sheer insanity of Biden and his fellow Democrats…and the complete passivity of the GOP.
The insanity of the “biden’ handlers is what it is. But the passivity of the GOP is our problem. We cannot continue to be SO STUPID as to EVER trust these people again, or continue to vote them into office.
Trump is the gold standard. Period.
From a Leftist point of view, it is not insane, Those with chronic illnesses are a drain on the resources of the American Soviet. Diabetics or those with deadly allergies are easy targets to hit. But expect others. There are reasons that only the Nomenklatura got/get good health care in totalitarian states. We are heading there.
As far as the passivity of the GOPe, what else do you expect. Both “Parties” have the same contempt for the proletariat.
Subotai Bahadur
GOPe = Establishment Wing of the Party = Romney/ Cheney
GOPp = Populist Wing of the Party = Trump / DeSantis
Not only the cost of the insulin but the finger stickers, test strips and needle tips all needing daily use. It ends up being a lot to deal with is incredibly annoying.
I had to change clinics to get away from the diabetes industrial complex. The diabetes specialist needs patients to keep her job and was going to leave me on an oral med, swap insulin for another injection and put me on blood pressure meds.
I changed doctors, remain on the oral med and bought a blood pressure cuff so I can periodically check my blood pressure.
My next goal is to lose weight, reduce glucose and cut the oral meds with the goal of getting off them altogether.