During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, the president promised to lower prescription drug costs.
He brought up the high price of insulin, using Joshua Davis, a 13-year-old from Virginia with Type 1 diabetes, as an example.
Davis sat in the upper balcony of the House chamber during the address, and the cameras focused on him as Biden made his point.
The president blamed pharmaceutical companies for making insulin so expensive for people like Davis.
“He and his dad both have Type 1 diabetes, which means they need insulin every day. Insulin costs about $10 a vial to make,” Biden said.
“But drug companies charge families like Joshua and his dad up to 30 times more. I spoke with Joshua’s mom. Imagine what it’s like to look at your child who needs insulin and have no idea how you’re going to pay for it.”
Biden then advocated for the price of insulin to be capped at $35 per month, “so everyone can afford it.”
In remarks on capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month “so everyone can afford it,” Pres. Biden highlights a young boy named Joshua with Type-1 diabetes.
It was also Joshua’s birthday yesterday. “Happy birthday, buddy,” Pres. Biden says. https://t.co/SLfrkxjM7F #SOTU pic.twitter.com/e7iSnsCv8F
— ABC News (@ABC) March 2, 2022
Some were revolted that Biden would use a child suffering from diabetes as a prop to promote his policies.
“I find the use of people as props to be very… unsettling, somehow. Double when it’s children,” Damir Marusic, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote on his blog.
Some also argued that it was actually the Biden administration that caused the rise in insulin prices.
OMG he’s going to complain about the price of INSULIN which TRUMP lowered and was one of the first things Biden REVERSED when he came in office!! No shame whatsoever.
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) March 2, 2022
In the U.S., about 34 million people are living with diabetes, and for those with Type 1, having insulin is “the difference between life and death,” Newsweek reported.
On his way out of office, former President Donald Trump finalized a rule that directed the Department of Health and Human Services to “establish practices to provide access to insulin and injectable epinephrine to low-income health center patients at the price the health center purchased these two drugs through the 340B Program.”
The 340B Drug Pricing Program “requires pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in Medicaid to sell outpatient drugs at discounted prices to health care organizations that care for many uninsured and low-income patients,” according to the American Hospital Association.
The Biden administration rescinded Trump’s rule in October due to “excessive administrative costs and burdens.”
This article was published as part of The Western Journal’s live coverage of Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address. If you would like to stay up to date on important events and breaking news in the world of politics, be sure to subscribe to The Western Journal here.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.