Either Joe Biden’s campaign team shot this off in error, or they’re more incompetent than their boss. In May 2020, Donald Trump announced that copays for insulin drugs would be capped at $35. Fox News host John Roberts remembered this event but got attacked by Biden's rapid response clowns who claimed this was a “blatant lie.” Roberts then whipped out the receipts, and what followed was a four-minute evisceration of this shoddy fact check.
First, Roberts cited the press release issued that day from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:
Today, under President Trump’s leadership, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that over 1,750 standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage have applied to offer lower insulin costs through the Part D Senior Savings Model for the 2021 plan year. Across the nation, participating enhanced Part D prescription drug plans will provide Medicare beneficiaries access to a broad set of insulins at a maximum $35 copay for a month’s supply, from the beginning of the year through the Part D coverage gap. The model follows on the Trump Administration’s previously announced 13.5 percent decline in the average monthly basic Part D premium since 2017 to the lowest level in seven years.
Currently, Part D sponsors may offer prescription drug plans that provide lower cost-sharing in the coverage gap; however, when they do, the Part D sponsor accrues costs that pharmaceutical manufacturers would normally pay. These costs are then passed on to beneficiaries in the form of higher premiums. The new insulin model directly addresses this disincentive by doing two things: 1) allowing manufacturers to continue paying their full coverage gap discount for their products, even when a plan offers lower cost-sharing; and 2) requiring participating Part D sponsors’ plans, in part through applying manufacturer rebates, to lowering cost-sharing to no more than $35 for a month’s supply for a broad set of insulins.
Under President Trump’s leadership, for the first time, CMS is enabling and encouraging Part D plans to offer fixed, predictable copays for beneficiaries rather than leaving seniors paying 25 percent of the drug’s cost in the coverage gap. Both manufacturers and Part D sponsors responded to this market-based solution in force and seniors that use insulin will reap the benefits.
🔥 Fox News host John Roberts hits back at the Biden campaign after they accuse him of a ‘blatant lie’ over his reporting that Trump capped insulin at $35 a month
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) June 4, 2024
After providing the receipts showing it was Trump, not Biden, who capped insulin costs, John adds: "We invited a… pic.twitter.com/PV0Ma1Nnir
He later played a Rose Garden clip featuring Tracey Brown, the then-CEO American Diabetes Association, thanking the Trump administration for this initiative.
Later, Robert quoted The Washington Post:
The administration has brokered an agreement between insulin manufacturers and some Medicare prescription drug plans that would lower costs for some seniors beginning in 2021 by capping co-pays at $35 for a monthly supply — a figure that administration officials said would lead to roughly a two-thirds drop in out-of-pocket costs and would encourage seniors to continue taking insulin.
“We have reached a breakthrough agreement to dramatically slash the out-of-pocket costs of insulin,” Trump said from the Rose Garden during the late-afternoon event. “You know what’s happened to insulin over the years, right? Through the roof.”
He later cited the Rand Corporation’s analysis of this policy, which showed promising results.
“We invited a representative from the Biden campaign to come on the program with us to discuss, but thus far, they have made no one available,” added Roberts.
The Fox News host cited a think tank, the liberal media, and the government to shred the Biden campaign’s inept fact check.
Well done.
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