Joe Biden Responsible For the Rising Cost of Insulin :: Dancehall Reggae :: Forums

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Posted February 13, 2021 03:23 AM

Out of roughly 330 million people living in the U.S., about 34 million are living with diabetes.

For individuals with type 1 diabetes, access to insulin is the difference between life and death.

Recently, many Americans have been expressing their outrage on social media at the rising cost of insulin and wonder who is to blame.

Fact Check: Is Joe Biden Responsible For the Rising Cost of Insulin?

Constitutional attorney Robert Barnes on Thursday tweeted: "Insulin back up to $1,500 for a 90-day supply. Thank President Biden," in a post that has gained more than 27,000 likes and 11,000 retweets.

In response to a Twitter video of a woman tearfully discussing how insulin costs have risen under Biden, one user replied on Thursday that, "My family is in the same situation. Our insulin cost went up 550% since Biden took office. He signed something that nullified Trump's EO that had significantly reduced the cost of insulin. He needs to fix this. This will devastate so many families," in a tweet that received 42 likes and 20 retweets.

The average list price of insulin has nearly tripled between 2002 and 2013, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

On January 20, Ron Klain, assistant to the president and chief of staff, announced a Regulatory Freeze Pending Review in a White House memorandum.

It froze any rules from the former administration for the next 60 days that were issued and published by the Federal Register that have not yet gone into effect "for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy the rules may raise."

This includes freezing Trump's Executive Order on Access to Affordable Life-Saving Medications (Executive Order 13937) that was supposed to go into effect January 22.

In July, Trump signed four executive orders aimed at drug pricing to order the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "to take several steps to deliver for American patients lower costs on prescription drugs, including insulin and epinephrine, and ensure Americans are getting the lowest price possible for their drugs," according to a press release from HHS.

Trump's Executive Order 13937, published by the Federal Register, supports improved access to affordable insulin and injectable epinephrine for low-income individuals "due to either lack of insurance or high cost sharing requirements."

"The list price for a single vial of insulin today is often more than $250 and most patients use at least two vials per month," the executive order states while also adding that some injectable epinephrine kits can cost more than $600.

The implementation of the executive order was published by the Federal Register on December 23. The order would have gone into effect on January 22.

"This final rule establishes that health centers receiving funding under section 330(e) of the PHS Act are expected to offer insulin and injectable epinephrine at or below the price the health center paid through the 340B Program, plus a minimal administration fee," the document states.

On January 26, the Federal Register published an announcement that the effective date of the final rule of Trump's executive order had been delayed until March 22.

It is up to the Biden administration to decide whether to sign Trump's executive order into law.

Regarding the rising cost of insulin, the ADA wrote in a 2018 report that, "The reasons for this increase are not entirely clear but are due in part to the complexity of drug pricing in general and of insulin pricing in particular."

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