A meme posted via President Joe Biden’s X account claiming he is “delivering” on Medicare prescription price cuts and accusing former President Donald Trump of caving on his pledge is receiving a great deal of pushback from online users.
The post says, “The difference between talking and delivering,” and contains a meme with a haggard-looking, MAGA-hat-wearing Trump on one side and a smiling Biden on the other. Trump’s photo is adorned with the claim, “After meeting with pharma lobbyists, Trump drops promise to negotiate drug prices,” citing left-wing Vox as the source.
Biden’s caption, meanwhile, says, “Biden admin unveils first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price negotiations,” and cites CNBC as its source.
After congressional inaction, Trump signed four executive orders in June 2020, “which together will significantly lower the cost of prescription drugs while increasing access to life-saving medications such as insulin,” a White House statement said at the time, adding:
- The first order directs federally qualified health centers to pass along massive discounts on insulin and epinephrine from drug companies to low-income Americans.
- The second order will allow the safe, legal importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries where the price for identical drugs is lower.
- The third order will prohibit secret deals between drug manufacturers and pharmacy “benefit manager” middlemen, ensuring patients directly benefit from available discounts at the pharmacy counter.
- The fourth order ensures the United States pays the lowest price available among economically advanced countries for Medicare Part B drugs. The United States often pays 80 percent more for these drugs than other developed nations.
“The four orders that I’m signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market, in terms of pricing and everything else, to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans,” Trump said at the time.
The White House also noted that during his tenure, “prescription drugs saw their largest annual price decrease in more than half a century. Average basic premiums for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans have fallen by 13.5 percent since 2017, saving beneficiaries $1.9 billion in premium costs.”
Users online noted that Biden actually rescinded the order requiring lower pricing for insulin.
Other users sounded off as well.