Inflation Reduction Act

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Trump capped insulin copayments at $35.

Biden removed the cap when he took office.

Biden places new cap that mimics what Trump had already put in place.

That's not at all true. It's not even a half truth. You should stop relying on the new source from which you got that misinformation. They are intentionally misleading you.

There were two different relevant executive orders.

First, Trump signed an executive order that would have begun after he left office and would have applied to 1,400 clinics. There was nothing in that order about a $35 price cap. That is the rule that Biden stopped from going into effect.

That rule pertained specifically to federally funded health centers, which provide services to underserved communities. Finalized in late 2020, the rule aimed to ensure that such health centers were passing along discounted rates of insulin and injectable epinephrine, used for allergic reactions. It was not fully implemented before it was rescinded and experts said any impact was expected to be minimal.

The Biden administration argued that the rule would have created additional administrative work and resulted in reduced resources at such centers.

“The rule was not likely to have had a substantial impact on very many patients and it was expected to impose substantial administrative burden on these federal health centers,” said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director for the Program on Medicare Policy at Kaiser Family Foundation.

Cubanski said it “wouldn’t have done anything to lower insulin prices across the board for the vast majority of insulin users.”

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Second, Trump signed an executive order imposing a $35 insulin cap for some insulin products for some Medicare beneficiaries. Biden left that order in effect until it was superseded by the comprehensive provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Separately, the Trump administration implemented a program in which some Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans voluntarily set the maximum copay for insulin at $35 per month. However, not all insulin products are necessarily covered by the plans that participate. It also does not affect costs for people who are uninsured or have other coverage.

That program remains in place, and Cubanski pointed out that the Biden administration supported expanding that initiative. A provision under the idling Build Back Better Act would have applied it to private insurers, for example.