Biden Talks About Lowering Costs for American Families

Hello, hello, hello. Good to see you all. Good to see you all. Thank you. By the way, Bowdoin College. Good college. I’ve spoken there. Thanks, Rose. Thanks for the introduction and please have a seat. Take a seat if you have one, because I said that once earlier in my career and they said, “We have no seats.” But I didn’t even know they were standing.

(00:43)
Anyway, thanks for the introduction, Rose, and for your courage. 22 years old, born with cystic fibrosis, a tough chronic disease that’s made it even tougher and she’s not exaggerating about the high cost of medicines, and particularly certain drugs in need. Rose, you’re not alone. I’m thinking about millions of Americans out there who are lying in bed at night staring at the ceiling wondering, “What if it happens? What if it happens to me? How am I going to pay for it? How will I do it?” Mothers and fathers wondering if their children come down with a chronic disease, how are they going to deal with it? Not a joke. You’re going to have to sell the house, you’re going to have to mortgage. What are you going to have to do? It’s consequential. Can you afford the medical bills?

(01:38)
Look, folks, as I said in my State of the Union, I’m doing everything I can to lower healthcare costs to provide people peace of mind, not at the expense of doctors or medicine or hospitals or drug companies, just to make it fair. Look, and we’re so lucky to have a great congressional delegation including, without hyperbole, two of the best senators in the United States Senate I’ve ever served with. Maggie Hassan. Stand up, Maggie. And Jeanne Shaheen couldn’t make it today, but she’s a dear, dear friend and a great ally, but she sent somebody who if I have to be in a fight, I want in my corner. Stand up pal. Billy, Billy Shaheen.

(02:20)
Look, I’m here to actually talk about the budget I released today that would, what I think, help in a big way. As you just heard, Rose, many have heard her say, many Americans pay for prescription drugs more money than anywhere in the country. If I got you on Air Force One with me and flew you to Toronto, to Berlin, to London, to Rome, any place in the world with the same prescription you might have for whatever you need, no matter what it is, and by the same company, you can get it in all those cities. And guess what? It costs you between 40% and 60% less. That’s a fact. That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact. That’s wrong. And guess what? I’ve been trying for years and years as a US Senator to end it and I’m ending it now.

(03:27)
Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the law I proposed and signed, not one Republican I might add voted for, we finally beat big pharma. Caps total prescription drug costs received through Medicare at $2,000 a year even for expensive drugs. Maximum. Right now, for example, this has already passed. I got it passed already. We got it passed that beginning next year, at the end of this term, what’s going to happen is the cost for all of the prescription drugs from seniors, including the cancer drugs that cost 10, 12, 15,000 bucks a year will not have to pay more than $2,000 a year, period.

(04:12)
I worked with Maggie and Jeanne, “I want to cap prescription drug costs to $2,000 a year for roads and for everyone, not just seniors.” It could be transformational. But that’s not all. Instead of paying as much as 400 bucks a month for insulin for seniors with diabetes, you now only have to pay 35 bucks a month. Well, you know why we did that? I’ve been fighting that a long time too. I bet everyone knows somebody who needs insulin for diabetes. Yourself or somebody else. Well it costs as much as 400 a month. Do you know how much it costs to make that? $10. T-E-N, 10. $10.

(04:41)
And the guy who came up with it, he didn’t want to patent it because he wanted to make sure everybody had access to it. So if you add everything, including the cost of packaging, it’s 13 bucks. They’re still making three times more than they would ordinarily. They’re not getting cheated. They’re just going to pay what other people pay around the world. And now with Jeanne’s leadership and Maggie’s partnership, that’s not the entire delegation that’s here, I want to cap the cost of insulin to 35 bucks for every American. Every American.

(05:08)
On the first try to pass, it included all Americans and we got it reauthorized. The other team wouldn’t do it, so only for seniors. Look, for years people talked about this, but we finally got it done and gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prescription costs, just like the VA’s been able to do for veterans for a long, long time. It’s not just saving seniors money, it’s saving every taxpayer money. It’s cutting the federal deficit. That’s what we’ve just done so far. Cut the federal deficit over time by $160 billion. That’s $160 billion Medicare does not have to pay out because they’re paying a rational price for this drug, not just this exorbitant price from before.

(06:01)
Look, this year Medicare is negotiating lower prices for some of the costliest drugs in the market that treat everything from heart disease to arthritis. That’s in the law that we’ve already passed. Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for even more drugs over the next decade. Folks, if we’re able to do that, it will not only save lives, we’re going to save taxpayers another estimated $200 billion. $200 billion taxpayers will not have to pay the drug companies for exorbitant prices that aren’t [inaudible 00:06:31].

(06:30)
Folks, with Maggie and your delegation’s help, I’ve already cut the federal deficit by $1 trillion, signed a bipartisan budget deal and cut another trillion dollars over the next decade, if they stick with the deal. And now it’s my goal to cut the federal debt even more by banking big corporations and the very wealth begin to pay their fair share. I’m not an anti-corporation. I represent the state of Delaware. More corporations incorporated in Delaware than every other state in America combined. Combined. But guess what? But I’m a capitalist, man. Make all the money you want. Just begin to pay your fair share in taxes.

(07:13)
I remember the big fight I had not long ago, and the reason where I was able to cut the deficit already by 7 billion in the first year, and that was because we found out that we wanted to make sure that there were 50 corporations that made $40 billion in 2021, didn’t pay a penny in taxes. I did an awful thing. I convinced us all to raise it to 15%. Isn’t that awful? We paid for everything that we paid for and we’ve done so far and I still cut the deficit.

(07:49)
Look, a fair tax code is how we invest in things that make this country great in healthcare, education, defense, and so much more, research, development. Here’s the deal, the last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut, $2 trillion tax cut that benefits the very wealthy and the top 1%, the biggest corporations, and they exploded the federal deficit. Last administration added more to the national debt than any presidential term in American history. Debt. You turn on TV and you think he’s telling the truth. Debt.

(08:27)
Does anybody here think the tax code is fair? Raise your hand. Well, I don’t think so either. I think if I don’t want to get in trouble with the press, but I bet they wouldn’t even raise their hands. Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion tax breaks? Because that’s what he wants to do. His tax cut’s about to expire and he wants to add another $2 trillion tax cut. Well, I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair. Under my plan, as I said, I ran for president and I promised nobody, nobody, as long as I’m president who earns less than $400,000, it’s a lot more than I ever made, will pay an additional penny in federal taxes. Nobody. Not a single cent. Nobody will pay a single penny more and they haven’t thus far.

(09:12)
Folks, it’s about fundamental fairness. Here’s another example. Folks, Obamacare became known as the Affordable Care Act, by the way, it’s still a very big deal.

(09:29)
Over 100 million Americans can no longer be denied health insurance because of a preexisting condition, but my predecessor and many Republicans want to take that away, [inaudible 00:09:40] they’re repealing the Affordable Care Act. I’m not going to let it happen. We stopped them literally 50 times, 50, five zero times in the last administration and we’re going to stop them again.

(09:47)
Folks, we all miss someone who cast the deciding vote to pick the Affordable Care Act not long ago, my buddy John McCain passed away, my predecessor, that’s how he ended his career, voting no so they couldn’t cut him. John loved New Hampshire and he still drives my predecessor crazy, even though John’s long gone, but that’s John. My mother would say, “God love him.”

(10:25)
Folks, we’re going to your delegation, I’m protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act. A record-breaking 21 million Americans have signed up for healthcare under the ACA, including 65,000 folks right here in New Hampshire. I enacted tax credits that save, on average, $800 per person per year reducing health care premiums for million of working families under the Affordable Care Act. But those tax credits expire next year and I’m calling on Congress to make and expand the Affordable Care Act tax credits to make them permanent. Make them permanent.

(11:04)
Many of my Republican friends want to put Social Security Medicare back on the chopping block again. If anyone tries to cut Social Security Medicare or raise the retirement age again, I will stop them.

(11:19)
Working people built this country. They pay more into social security than the millionaires and billionaires do. It’s not fair. Folks, we have two ways to go in Social Security and Medicare. Republicans will cut Social Security and Medicare and give us more tax cuts for the wealthy. Even this morning, Donald Trump said, “Cut the Social Security and Medicare are on the table again.” When asked if he changed his position, he said, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of cutting. Tremendous amount of things you can cut.” You’re going to make me [inaudible 00:11:54]. “Tremendous amount of things you can do.” Not cut. He said, the bottom line is he’s still at it. I’m never going to allow that to happen. I won’t cut Social Security. I won’t cut Medicare.

(12:02)
Instead of ending Medicare and give tax breaks to the wealthy, I will protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare and make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share. In fact, my budget plan to preserve Medicare benefits in this Medicare trust fund because of Maggie’s leadership, because of it, I’m also cracking down on surprise medical bills. Here’s the deal, you go out there and you do your homework. You choose a hospital if you need the hospital based on what your insurance company will cover, and then when you get the bill, there’s a surprise charge because the hospital assigned an anesthesiologist or doctor that isn’t under your control in your insurance. That surprise bill can add up to thousands of dollars, thousands.

(12:54)
Thanks to Maggie, we ended that surprise billing and we’re protecting one million million Americans every single month from those surprise bills. Folks, look, my budget also cracks down on what’s called facility fees for telemedicine. You get charged an extra fee if you’re in a rural area and you have a virtual visit where neither you nor the doctor is actually in the facility. That’s just another junk fee and it’s wrong. We got to end it. These surprise medical bills, junk fees add up to hundreds of dollars for ordinary families like the one I grew up in. And it makes a difference. Although it does generate $20 billion in profit. That’s what it does.

(13:40)
Let me close with this. Four years ago, this week before I came to office, our country was hit with the biggest, worst pandemic and economic crisis in the century. Remember the anxiety and the fear? Record job losses? Raging virus that would take more than one million American lives and leave millions of loved ones behind, was estimated for every one who died, it left behind eight significant people; mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, an empty chair at the table.

(14:09)
The mental health crisis that resulted from the isolation and loneliness. A president, my predecessor, failed the most basic of any duty a president owes the American people; the duty to care. I believe that’s unforgivable. I came to office determined to uphold the duty to care and get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. Building the future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not just the top down. When the middle grows, the bottom has a chance, the poor have an opportunity, and the wealthy still do very well. They still do very well. Investing in all America and all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot. We leave nobody behind. Nobody. Our plan is working and America is coming back.

(14:58)
Four years later, the pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer, turning a setback into a comeback. That’s the American story and I believe we’re moving into a future where healthcare is, of right now, a privilege in America. That’s why…

(15:16)
That’s why I’ve never been more optimistic about our future. We just have to remember who we are, we’re the United States of America. There’s nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. Nothing, seriously. Not a joke. We’re the only country that’s ever come out of every crisis stronger than we went in, stronger than when we went in.

(15:44)
And folks, I’ll give you one little example. I may not get it done, but if you give me a Congress, I will. No, I’m serious. You may not get it done, but here’s the deal. We have a thousand billionaires in America. That’s not a bad thing per se. You know what their average tax rate is? 8.2% taxes. Anybody want to trade their tax rate? No, I’m serious. If we just charge them, or had a tax code that was charging them 25%, not the highest rate, 25%. You know how much that would raise in the next 10 years? $400 billion. $40 billion a year. That’s what we could do, from cutting the deficit to providing for child care, providing healthcare to continue to provide our military with all they need.

(15:58)
So folks, look, this is not beyond our capacity. We just have to listen. You’ve got to tell people what we want do and hope that they’ve figured out that what’s going on with the last guy will just repeat it, because if he gets elected, he’s publicly stated, he’ll try to repeal every single thing we’ve done so far. 15 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs. They go on and on. But people still need help. They still need help. Those folks sitting at the kitchen table, they still need some help on the day-to-day things and we’re going to work on those as well.

(17:15)
But anyway, I’ve taken too much of your time. You’re very gracious. Thank you all very much for being here. And as my mother would say, God bless you all. Thank you. And God protect our troops.