Live literally my doctors currently have me on a for drug combination that carries an annual list price of more than $1 million just one of those drugs an oral drug under Part D cost me more than $116,000 this year out of pocket now that's going to change next year because Of the inflation reduction act as out-of-pocket limits under the ACT begin to phase in and mine will be capped at about $3,500 it's lifechanging elois is another drug I've been described because I'm at high risk of a blood clot the corporations that manufacture the drug have abused our Patent system to block competition out of pocket cost for elois under my plan is $3,200 per year but help is coming elois is one of the first 10 drugs that Medicare will be negotiating in the coming months now as hard as patients worked to win lower drug prices through The inflation reduction act we could not have done it without President Biden's leadership we are so lucky that he brings his own personal experience and his families and turns it into energy and commitment for the rest of us President Biden also understands the critical need to ensure those of us who Depend on new drugs for survival get the Innovation we need but at prices we can afford so it's my great honor to introduce a man who is delivering on his promise to lower prescription drug prices the president of the United States Joe Biden well thank you David and uh this Has been a fight that I just started the other day when I was a 37 year old Senator this has been an ongoing fight not just on my part but on the part of an awful lot of people David uh thanks for sharing uh how we're making progress And lowering cost and for life-saving medicines you know uh we're here at a pharmacy today at the National Institute of Health to talk about my administration's work to crack down on price gouging to lower prescription drug cost to put money back in the pockets of hardworking families and reduce government spending on prescription Drugs at the same time using me to talk about government doing something that's going to affect spending I think it's going to be we're going to help people and going to cost taxpayers more but this lowers taxes as well as lowers cost for individuals too many folks lay awake At night and I know from experience watching that's staring at the ceiling worrying what will happen if their spouse gets cancer or if their child gets sick or something happens to one of them do they have enough Insurance can they afford the medical bills will they Have to sell the house will they I I get up and you know it it it's easy to understand it and we all know somebody's been through that experience this isn't just about health care it's about your dignity it's about security you know I think some of the repress was with me When I was in Northern Virginia and that a very distinguished looking woman stood up and she looked like she was in her early 40s maybe a little older and she said she had a problem and the problem was she couldn't afford the insulin for her shoulder diabetes two of them Talking about having to cut it in half so because the cost was as much as $800 a month for them and insurance couldn't cover it think of all the people all the people in this country that are going through something like that it's about giving folks just a little more Breathing room that's what this is about for too long Americans have paid more for prescription drugs than any advanced Nation on Earth you can have the exact same drug made by the exact same company United States and you buy in America of one price you go to Toronto Paris Berlin Or any other major capital in the world in fact you'll find they're paying two to three times less than the American is paying at an American drugstore folks it's wrong results seniors are skipping doses cutting pills in half for growing prescriptions entirely because they simply can't afford the prescription Drugs but not anymore we finally after all these years beat big farmer when I signed the inflation reduction act to get senior and taxpayers a better deal for years there's been no check on how high or how fast big farma can raise drug prices in the year before we passed This legislation drug makers jacked up prices nearly four times faster than inflation went up and they were already too high let's call this for what it is it's simply it's a ripoff they're ripping off Medicare they're ripping off the American people and they're we're but we're now back fighting back it's Part of our law which passed last year drug companies can raise prices more than If they raise prices more than inflation they'll have to pay back the difference between inflation as it gone up and the price they charge and that means consumers will pay less as well they're going to save taxpayers money And discourage companies from Raising prices in the first place here's how it's going to work and on this face it seems complicated but it's really not that complicated every quarter Medicare publishes a list of drugs administered by doctors whose prices have been hiked too much too fast today Medicare is Announcing its latest list 48 prescription drug prices have raised were raised faster than the rate of inflation was raised in the same period these drugs are used by 750,000 Americans if medication you take is on the list our program is going to keep your cost down for example many Seniors taking the drug signapore a growth hormone disorder there's four growth hormon will save over $300 per month in the last year 64 different drugs have been listed for these rebates some seniors have saved more than $600 per dose and that's not all we're not only working to Slow price hikes we're also working to bring down drug prices period just bring them down for starters my legislation finally gives Medicare the power to negotiate to lower drug prices like the Department of Veterans and fair has been able to do for a long time time now Medicare is able to do that we're fighting we've been fighting for decades and I literally mean decades to give Medicare that right with this law we finally beat big farmer and we got it done I must admit with no help from the other team at all not one single Republican voted for it in August the first 10 drugs were selected for negotiation drugs that treat things like arthritis cancer heart failure and so much more and all this law is going to save the federal government $160 billion over the next 10 years hear me because Medicare is going to pay less is going to save the federal government taxpayers $160 billion over the next 10 years that money will go toward reducing the deficit enriching and not enriching big farma it also reduces the cost of insulin for seniors from as much as $400 per month to just 40 EXC me $35 per month makes important vaccines for seniors like shingles free saving them $200 per shot and it's going to cap the total out of pocket drug cost for seniors on Medicare now next year in 24 it's going to be capped at no matter What your costs are going to be tapped at $3,500 but in 2025 it's going to go down to $2,000 per year no matter how expensive your drugs are and drugs as you heard from our my introducer can be up to 10 124 $14,000 a year for cancer Drugs David just said that that his cancer drug cost $116,000 a year thanks to this law he's going to pay a hell of a lot less it's a real GameChanger this law is going to lower costs it'll save lives for people who forgo drugs because they can't afford them and I'll give Folks a little more just my dad say a little more breathing room just a little more breathing room that's what bomic is all about folks negotiating negotiation and competition are the engines of a market economy in every other industry people negotiate prices every time with big farmer it's been using to get its Own way no negotiation suppressing competition instead of innovation drug companies say they need that extra Revenue to develop Cutting Edge drugs well but studies show big farmer lately has spent more on stock BuyBacks executive pay and research than than on Research meanwhile American taxpayers are footing The bill more of the bill through their tax dollars Americans pay more for federal drug research here at the National Institute of Health and other programs and folks in any other country in the world pay for and we're happy to spend the money for the research because They do such good work I believe it's a good thing that leads the breakthroughs to save lives but drug companies benefit considerably from that research they could not make their own drugs without the research done here Tech taxpayers already are chipping in making paying a Lot of money for that here at NH to get these brilliant scientists to go out and find cures find answers to drug problem to to drugs for with the use of drugs for health problems and then they turn around and they charge Americans more because they charge than anyone else in the world Because they the private companies take advantage of what happens here at this institute I think it's outrageous I'm pleased to announce that from now on the part of the federal government that prepares for in response to Public Health emergencies will make a c so-called fair pricing a standard part Of its contract and negotiations with drug makers that means American families will finally pay the same as people in other countries for many of the vaccines and treatments developed are funded through their own tax dollars in the first place it's a simple principle you shouldn't pay a highest price in the World for drugs that your tax dollars have already helped create we're already begun to secure fair pricing Clauses and contracts for new covid vaccines three new covid vaccines and we recently proposed that when a drug company prices drugs so high and Americans can't afford them when those drugs were created by The American tax dollars the federal government can step in and allow other companies to make and sell that same drug for Less because they did it here this is all part of my administration's work to promotee competition across our economy to lower costs to raise wages and improve care last week we announced New steps to crack down on anti-competitive practices in healthc care and we're going after what we called Junk fees like junk health insurance plans that look affordable and then turn out to stick consumers with hidden costs they didn't know existed we crack down on suppos so-called surprise Billing for example when a patient goes for a hospital for surgery and it turns out the anesthesiologist maybe a wonderful man or woman is out of their Network their insurance Network they get a surprise bill for thousands of dollars because it's not covered they didn't know they were going to get that bill They should be aware of it we're protecting millions of Americans every month from these unexpected medical bills we're taking steps to ban the use of medical debt in credit reporting think about this now how many people of medical bills if I added up all the cost Of when I was in the hospital it's literally several $100,000 imagine had I gotten that and I didn't have insurance and I ended up in debt because of that well the credit reporting is so families in the credit reported those bills cannot be held against You Forever by denying your Credit so not counted in your credit statement folks here's the deal Americans don't like being played for some suckers but Republicans are okay with that they're fighting to keep these junk fees they're trying to cut Medicare Medicaid and Social Security and they're very straightforward about it and not a Single solitary Republican voted for any of the legislation which is responsible for so much of this drug savings when I know some want to now they want to repeal the law and let big farmer charge whatever it wants for prescription drugs again they want to send us back to the Bad old days in short Republicans want to raise costs for seniors and working families and allow exorbitant profits for big Pharma I will not let that happen as long as I'm around I'm a capitalist I'm a capitalist should be able to make profit of significance amounts of money I have no problem with Companies making reasonable profits though but not on the backs of seniors and working people for too many folks the cost of even just one drug can mean the difference between life and death hope and fear it's all about fairness it's about dignity as I was saying to These folks behind me before we came in you know imagine being that parent who has two children who have diabetes need an insulin and you can't afford it for both of them imagine imagine the you get stripped of your dignity look at your kids you can't afford it so we're going to keep Fighting lower prescription drug cost not just for seniors for everyone to expand healthc care coverage to keep building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up where healthc care is a right not a privilege and patience come out before profits you know I know We can do this I really do we just have to remember who in God's name we are we're the United States of America there's nothing beyond our capacity if we work together and in this area we're not only working to cut the cost for people needing the drugs we're cutting Cting the cost for the average taxpayer so they don't have to pay as much to fund Medicare because Medicare is paying less as well this is a double header you save the taxpayer at large money because Medicare is not paying as much and you save individual patients lives as well As money so I want to thank you all for taking the time to be here I want to thank my uh my in my introducer I know you're down to 35 but it's going to get down to 2,000 a year Max Max in 2035 so God bless you all and may God protect Our troops thank you very very much do you want Israel to scale back its assault on Gaza in by the end of the year do you want them to tone it down move to a lower intensity phase I want them to be focused on how to save Civilian lives not stop going after AAS but be more careful is Israel committing violating International humanitarian law