Did the Biden administration make insulin unaffordable?
The spike in insulin prices began long before Biden became president. Between 2012 and 2018, the price increased at an average rate of 14% a year.
To combat the continuing price hikes, President Trump issued an executive order in 2020 designed to lower the prices of insulin and epinephrine for low-income individuals.
On his inauguration day, Biden suspended the not-yet-implemented order as part of a regulatory freeze on all "new and pending rules," giving his administration time to review the policies to determine their alignment with his political objectives. The Health and Human Services Department supported this decision, suggesting the order's "limited scope" would have a "minimal economic impact."
Biden's proposed Build Back Better legislation includes measures to make prescription drugs more affordable, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and imposing a tax penalty on pharmaceutical companies for increasing prices faster than inflation.