Biden Takes a Lighthearted Jab at Trump During First Event with Harris as Nominee
Biden Takes a Lighthearted Jab at Trump During First Event with Harris as Nominee
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00:00prescriptions entirely, because the prescription drugs are totally unaffordable.
00:05The woman you've now met, the nurse you just met, she's paid $900 a month.
00:14Well, guess what, man? She's going to pay nowhere near that, $9,000. She's going to pay,
00:19guess what? Beginning January, every single prescription drug she has, including,
00:26God forbid, if she needs a really expensive drug, like a cancer drug,
00:30maximum she ever has to pay is $2,000, period.
00:40That's why from the time I was in the Senate, I worked tirelessly to get Medicare the power
00:44to negotiate lower drug prices, just like the Department of Veterans Affairs. In fact,
00:49I was reminded by staff today, one of the first major bills I worked on was in 1973,
00:56I co-sponsored legislation led by Senator Frank Church that let Medicare negotiate
01:04the cost of drugs. 1973, this fight's been going on. The VA pays, as they should,
01:1250% less than Medicare because VA can negotiate the prices. But for years,
01:19Big Pharma blocked Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices. As a consequence,
01:23they're able to maintain the exorbitant price increases and the profits are uncalled for.
01:29Look, but this time we finally beat Big Pharma.
01:39And I might add, with no help from Republicans, not a single Republican voted for this bill,
01:46period. Not one in the entire Congress.
01:49Now, the reason I say that is not to make a political point about them,
01:55if they have gotten their lesson, but guess what? They want to, the guy we're running against,
02:02what's his name? Donald Dump or Donald whatever. They want to get rid of this,
02:11what we passed. They're fighting to get rid of what we've just passed. No, I'm serious.
02:15No help from Republicans passing the Infection Reduction Act, thanks to the tie-breaking vote
02:19of Kamala, made it possible. Folks, it really matters. For example, take the insulin needed
02:28to treat diabetes. Guy who invented that insulin 100 years ago didn't put a patent on it because
02:34he wanted it to be available for everybody. He didn't even patent it. Well, guess how much it
02:39would cost those companies to make that insulin? $10, T-E-N. That's the guy's truth. $10, number
02:48one. Number two, to package it and ship it, you might get it up to $13. But they were charging up
02:55to $400 a month for it. But now they can't charge more than $35 a month.
03:09It's a big deal. $35 a month. These guys still make enormous profits. That's three times what
03:24it cost them to make it. The initial legislation capped the cost for everyone
03:30who needed that insulin. How many of you know anybody who needs insulin for diabetes? Raise
03:34your hand. Okay, well, guess what? The next three months we got here, I'm not leaving here and
03:42Kamala, when she's president, is going to make sure if we don't get it done, everybody should
03:46qualify for that $35 a month. Every American. I mean it. Folks, that's not all. The same law
03:58I wrote, we wrote, means starting in January of this year, every senior in the United States of
04:05America, no matter what their cost of drugs, and like I said, some of these cancer drugs are
04:09$12,000 a year, every single penny they spend, they never have to spend more than $2,000 a year
04:16for all drugs. All drugs. And we're going to fight to make sure everyone qualifies for that as well.
04:27Look, all together, our reforms not only save lives, but here's the point people
04:32aren't talking about. It saves the taxpayers billions of dollars.
04:38What we've done so far, we'll save the taxpayers over the next 10 years, $160 billion dollars.
04:46Lowering the debt. I mean it. Because they don't have to pay the exorbitant price that Medicare
04:52had to pay before. They're going to pay $35 out of $400. Folks, and those savings are only going
04:59to increase for American taxpayers because it matters. Look, but that's not all. We're going
05:05to pass a law. 10 drugs a year, going up to 20 until we get every single drug every year.
05:13Drugs treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, kidney disease, arthritis,
05:18blood cancers, and more. And today, I'm proud to announce that Medicare has reached an agreement
05:24with all manufacturers in the U.S. and around the world, and we're going to pass that law.
05:31I'm proud to announce that Medicare has reached agreement with all manufacturers
05:34on all 10 drugs selected in the first round of negotiations.
05:41The new lower prices for all 10 drugs will go in effect in January of 2026,
05:46not this January, next January.