LETTER: Joe Biden, working to make life better for Americans
In his Aug. 11 letter “Shell game,” Kent Davidson scoffed at President Joe Biden’s efforts to lower the cost of insulin for seniors, limiting it to $35 per month. He said the government doesn’t negotiate. It mandates. That’s the only thing he said that was true.
In 2003 the Bush administration and the 108th Congress (controlled by Republicans) passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act ,which specifically mandated that Medicare could not use its buying power to negotiate for lower drug prices. After 21 years, President Biden has done something to fix that Republican-sponsored burden on Medicare.
Seniors now get free vaccinations. Insulin is capped at $35 per month. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act removed the ban and allows Medicare to begin negotiating all drug prices starting in 2026.
That’s what governing is supposed to look like when you actually care about the governed.
