STORY: :: Harris and Biden welcome price cuts for top sellers
prescription drugs used by Medicare
:: 15 August 2024
:: Largo, Maryland
“Why are prescription drugs so expensive? I’ll tell you. Well, one big reason is that the pharmaceutical industry has been driving up the prices of life-saving drugs for years, often charging many times the cost of manufacturing them, just to increase their profits. And millions of Americans have suffered because of it.”
“What’s the name of the guy we’re running against? Donald Dump or Donald whatever. … They want to get rid of what we just passed. They’re fighting to get rid of what we just passed. No, I’m serious. No thanks to the Republicans, but thanks to the tie-breaking vote, Kamala made it happen.”
“Kamala and I will continue to fight to lower drug costs not just for seniors, but for everyone. It’s a fight we must continue.”
“We’re going to keep fighting back against the pharmaceutical industry. I’ve fought too hard to give in now. We’re not going to give in. Listen to this. You may have heard about the Republicans’ MAGA plan for Project 2025. They want to take away Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices and force the pharmaceutical industry back into action. Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is: We want to give them hell. I mean it.”
The United States has cut prices on 10 of the best-selling prescription drugs used by Medicare by as much as 79%, hoping to save $6 billion in the first year. The plan is part of a plan President Biden welcomed on Thursday (August 15) to ease anger over high prices ahead of the November election.
Biden’s inflation-cutting bill, set to take effect in 2022, was the first law to give Medicare the ability to negotiate prices on some of the most expensive drugs the program covers for 66 million people. The new prices will take effect in 2026.
