Remarks by President Trump on Protecting Seniors with Diabetes | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

Rose Garden  •  Washington D.C.  •  May 26  •  4:30 P.M. EDT

    THE PRESIDENT: You definitely have plenty of distancing. I've never seen distancing like that. That's really — that's really very impressive.

    And welcome to the Rose Garden as we take powerful action to lower healthcare costs for America's seniors. Today, I'm proud to announce that we have reached a breakthrough agreement to dramatically slash the out-of-pocket cost of insulin. You know what's happened to insulin over the years, right? Through the roof. Insulin — so many people, so necessary.

    For hundreds and thousands of seniors enrolled in Medicare — that's a big deal — participating plans will cap cost at just $35 a month per type of insulin, and some plans may offer it free. So for everybody that was getting ripped off and paying tremendous prices — senior citizens — and, Seema, I want to thank you because you brought this to my attention a long time ago, and you worked very hard on this day. And the press won't even cover it, but they'll cover things that are unimportant.

    But this is a big day for seniors. This is a tremendous saving. And it allows people that — you know, if you don't take insulin — I just wrote this down — go blind, stroke, amputation, kidney failure, and other things. So we're getting it down — $35 per month. And it would be anywhere from $50 to $150 to over $200 a month. So it's a massive cut — I guess, 60, 70 percent. Nobody has seen anything like this for a long time.

    Sleepy Joe can't do this — that, I can tell you. In fact, it was his problem with Obamacare that caused part of your problem. This will save impacted Americans an average of minimum $446, just on insulin costs a year.

    We're pleased to be joined by Vice President Mike Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams. I also want to thank Seema again. Thank you very much for the job you've done helping achieve the incredible victory for Medicare patients nationwide.

    In the past, Obamacare prevented insurance providers from competing to offer lower costs for seniors. There was no competition, there was no anything, and they ran away with what took place, and the seniors were horribly hurt. Many people couldn't take insulin; they couldn't even think about it.

    As a result, Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage paid an average of $675 for a year's supply of insulin, and sometimes as high as $1,500. Harmful laws also meant that seniors often paid a different amount almost every single month. They had no idea what they were paying — they were billed. Every month, they were billed a different amount, and it was a massive amount.

    One in every three seniors on Medicare has diabetes, and over 3.3 million beneficiaries use at least one type of insulin. Over the past 10 years, these seniors have seen their out-of-pocket costs for this lifesaving treatment almost double.

    I don't use insulin. Should I be? Huh? I never thought about it. But I know a lot of people are very — very badly affected, right? Unbelievable.

    That's why my administration acted decisively. We slashed Obamacare's crippling requirements and opened up competition like they've never seen before. They've never seen competition like this. Between transparency and all of the other things we're doing, nobody has ever had a competitive — competitive situation created like we've done it. And the prices, you will see very soon, they're going to come tumbling down.

    Then we brought all the parties to the table — insurers, manufacturers, and other key players — and reached an agreement to deliver insulin at stable and drastically lower out-of-pocket costs for our seniors.

    I hope the seniors are going to remember it, because Biden is the one that put us into the jam because they didn't know what they were doing. They were incompetent.

    Soon, nearly half of all eligible Part D and Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans will offer this low-cost option — and when you say "low-cost," you're really talking low cost — giving seniors the freedom and choice to pick the plan that's right for them.

    Nothing will ever stop me from fulfilling my solemn duty to America's seniors. I'll use every power at my disposal to lower drug prices, and my administration will always protect Medicare and Social Security — and, by the way, preexisting conditions.

    And we got rid of the individual mandate, which is a disaster. The worst part of Obamacare was the individual mandate. When we got rid of the individual mandate, essentially we got rid of Obamacare, if you want to know the truth. You can say that in the truest form. But we got rid of a horrible, horrible condition called the "individual mandate." But we'll always protect you on preexisting conditions, much more so than the Democrats.

    Here with us today is Bruce Broussard, president and C- — CEO of a big, powerful healthcare company: Humana. And I'd like to have Bruce come up and say a few words, please. Bruce? Thank you. That's a big company. You — look how young he is, too. That's very young to be running such a big company, huh?

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    MR. BROUSSARD: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bruce.

    MR. BROUSSARD: Well, we are — I speak on behalf of our 50,000 teammates that work at Humana that we are thankful of being here and honored.

    The demo that you were describing just recently is an example of the strength of public-private partnerships in dealing with large issues, such as the affordability of prescription drugs. And insulin is, by far, the one that is used the most.

    Another great example of that is the response to the COVID and the crisis. And I think about one of our customers, Gwen, that just recently we served — was blind, did not have access to food. No one could support her because no one was in the vicinity to help her, and in addition, didn't have access to her prescriptions. And through a strong private-public partnership, we were able to offer her food and prescriptions delivered to her home.

    So I want to thank the administration for continuing to pick on large issues like this and bringing in the private enterprise to assist in that. So thank you, Seema, and all — everybody — everything you've done. So, thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: What a job you've done, too. Really an amazing job.

    MR. BROUSSARD: Well, thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: And you're also in the right business, right?

    MR. BROUSSARD: Well, if we can help any senior, we're always in the right business.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's good. That's good. You've really helped, and we appreciate it very much.

    MR. BROUSSARD: Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bruce.

    We're also joined by Tracey Brown, the CEO of American Diabetes Association. And a lot of bad things can happen without insulin, in terms of diabetes and other things.

    Please, Tracey. Thank you very much. Hi, Tracey.

    MS. BROWN: Thank you, Mr. President; thank you, Administrator Verma, for making this afternoon one that we can focus on the 34 million Americans, like myself, who's living with diabetes, 7 million of which need insulin to live. Twenty-five percent of these individuals have told us that they ration or skip doses of their medicine because they simply cannot afford it.

    And so, this effort — CMI-MMI [CMMI] demonstration project — that brings together the government, industry, and public health advocacy from the American Diabetes Association is the right thing to do, and we're thrilled to take this challenge head on.

    Today, together, we are helping millions of seniors access insulin affordably. This is a very big deal. The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading organization that fights for people living with diabetes. And we are committed to continue to partner to make sure every American, and especially our seniors, have access to the medicine that they need to live.

    So thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Administrator Verma.

    THE PRESIDENT: So, Tracey, are you surprised at how much we've gotten the price down — to what extent and to the level that we brought it down to?

    MS. BROWN: This is a very exciting day for people living with diabetes. And so, any step to bring this lower is a good — good news. We know that we need to do more, but I'm so confident that together we are going to be able to help all people living with diabetes thrive.

    THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much.

    MS. BROWN: Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Appreciate it, Tracey.

    ...

    Read the full transcript HERE.


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