President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Jay Paul | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump acknowledged on Saturday that insulin prices were lower under President Joe Biden, but he still wants voters to trust his own administration.
“The low price of insulin for millions of Americans is caused by me and the Trump administration, not crooked Joe Biden. He had nothing to do with it,” Trump wrote in a “Truth Society” post. This was all done long before he came into office so sadly and all he does is try to take credit for what others have done, in this case, me!”
Trump’s comments come as he trails Biden on health care, a top concern for voters as the November election approaches.
For example, a May survey by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found that Biden leads Trump by 11 points on ensuring access to affordable health insurance.
Biden leads in polls on several other health care-related topics, although the candidates are relatively divided on addressing high health care costs. The poll, which surveyed 1,479 U.S. adults from April 23 to May 1, has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
The two candidates are expected to hold their first face-to-face presidential debate on June 27.
The insulin price cap has become central evidence for Biden’s broader economic argument in his campaign against Trump.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden enacted a series of provisions aimed at lowering drug prices for seniors, including capping insulin prices at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. The president continues to push for a more universal insulin cap that would also cover young people.
“Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes will only have to pay $35 a month!” Biden said during his State of the Union address in March. “Now I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it!”
The Democratic incumbent is trying to use lower insulin costs to argue that he has helped lower costs for consumers even as the U.S. economy faces stubbornly high inflation levels in its post-pandemic recovery.
For his part, Trump signed an executive order capping the price of his own insulin at $35 during his final year in office. Biden later suspended the policy when he took office as part of a larger freeze to allow his administration to review new regulations that were about to take effect.
But memories of Trump-era health care policies still dim some voters’ views of the Republican presidential candidate’s track record. A national economic survey released by CNBC in December showed Biden leading Trump by 19 percentage points on health care.
Trump has spent much of his presidency trying to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Care Act without offering viable alternative health care options. The Affordable Care Act provides health insurance to about 45 million Americans, according to White House estimates in March.
Trump doubled down on his pledge to replace Obamacare during his 2024 campaign, although he has yet to outline the specifics of an alternative.
“I’m not going to run out and end the Affordable Care Act like crooked Joe Biden is going around saying,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth social account in April. “We will make the ACA better than it is now and cheaper for you.”
