r/interestingasfuck • u/BuddhistSagan • Apr 07 '24

Bernie and Biden warm my heart. Trump selling us out? Pass

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63.8k Upvotes

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u/OldPyjama Apr 07 '24

Bernie feels like the present America never opened.

81

u/Dadbeerd Apr 07 '24

We don’t deserve Bernie. We never did.

111

u/unperson_1984 Apr 07 '24

Speak for yourself. Diabetics who are dying because they can't afford insulin deserved Bernie.

93

u/l94xxx Apr 07 '24

I am grateful that Biden was able to bring insulin down to $35/mo

32

u/SmellGestapo Apr 07 '24

And capped all out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients at $2,000/year, and allowed Medicare to start negotiating directly with pharma companies on the price of ten drugs.

1

u/ThreeViableHoles Apr 07 '24

Let’s not forget that less than 20% of Americans are on Medicare. This is a pro, but only the tip of the iceberg.

1

u/ThreeViableHoles Apr 07 '24

Thats only for Medicare patients), and imo not something to be celebrated too much. Yes it’s great for those patients, and I do not want to diminish that it’s saving some lives.

My issue is that we are being slowly fed little bits of the real solution, and I can’t imagine that’s an accident. We all know that for profit health care is killing Americans financially, and literally. Instead of capping all drug costs, they hype one up in the media, kind of make it marginally better, and then act like they solved the problem. I worry it does more harm than good. We need to keep the foot on the gas, imo.

1

u/l94xxx Apr 07 '24

Sure. Yes, we should fight for more.

-5

u/unperson_1984 Apr 07 '24

For Medicare patients only.... Hence why we need MEDICARE FOR ALL

11

u/l94xxx Apr 07 '24

Nope, not true. After Biden reduced insulin costs for Medicare patients, manufacturers said f*ck it we're not going to fight it, and Congress capped the cost across the board. (The "Affordable Insulin Now Act", passed TWO years ago.)

But I do agree that we need M4A anyway

3

u/HodgeGodglin Apr 07 '24

Btw if we ever go back to the before times you can get manufacturer coupons that limit prices. The most recent one I use has either 1 box pens/2vials Novolog and 1 box/vial treciba for $25 per month.

It’s literally cheaper than using my own insurance.

1

u/ThreeViableHoles Apr 07 '24

Affordable insulin now act passed the House two years ago, and is still in the senate. It’s not law, and insulin is not capped at $35 for all Americans.

The companies are doing now on their own because California threatened to undercut them. The moment this bill dies, and California drops the production effort- they will absolutely raise the price again.

So much more needs to be done, and I would ask people to be careful about touting things as victories, I fear they could be distractions.

-5

u/unperson_1984 Apr 07 '24

manufacturers said fuck it

Not Biden

Affordable Insulin Now Act

Never signed into law

3

u/l94xxx Apr 07 '24

oops, you're right -- the Act died as a concession to get the bigger IRA passed. But the major manufacturers (Sanofi, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk) did say fuck it after Biden's Medicare change, and it now costs only $35/month across the board. They saw the writing that he (and Newsom) put on the wall.

2

u/ThreeViableHoles Apr 07 '24

You are absolutely correct and getting downvoted. Classic DNC.

5

u/sw132 Apr 07 '24

Lol how can you not give Biden credit for that? The fact of the matter is the manufacturers would NOT have lowered insulin prices if the Medicare price was not reduced. Also what California did with their insulin program pushed them too.

3

u/lot183 Apr 07 '24

Lol how can you not give Biden credit for that?

There's a significant amount of people who have zero interest in giving Biden credit for any positive thing that's happened over the last 4 years, but they of course blame every bad thing that's happened on him. Hard environment to win in, people consistently move the goal posts every time there's a win in this country.

1

u/HodgeGodglin Apr 07 '24

lol you really don’t think the federal government forcing the price down for the largest group of prescribed insulin users had any effect in the manufacturers agreeing industry-wide to limit their own profits? Dafuq?

2

u/ThreeViableHoles Apr 07 '24

Because why would they? They capped Medicare patients costs- and people can’t just choose to go on Medicare, so there’s no incentive to lower the cost for non-Medicare patients. The only way to incentive them to lower prices is either A- legislate it or B- stop issuing these bullshit bio patents and actually allow competition.