Medicare: ‘Thank You, Joe’ Reverberates As Biden-Harris Attend First Joint Event

Photo: Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz

LARGO, MD (REUTERS) – The US has negotiated down the prices of 10 top-selling prescription drugs used by Medicare by as much as 79%, hoping to save $6 billion in the first year as part of a plan hailed on August 15 by President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris by his side.

Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, allowed Medicare to negotiate prices for some of the most costly drugs that the program covers for 66 million people. The new prices will go into effect in 2026.

In their first joint event since Biden stepped aside as the Democratic candidate, Harris spoke first. At the event at Prince George’s County Community College and praised Biden for his work on the issue, as the crowd broke out into chants of “Thank you, Joe!”

She said, “Our extraordinary president, Joe Biden…there’s a lot of love in this room for our president. And I think it is for many, many reasons, including few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including to expand access to affordable health care, than Joe Biden.”

“We finally beat Big Pharma,” Biden said. “We know it is not just about health care, it is about your dignity,” Biden said of the policy. “It’s about peace of mind. It’s about security. It’s about taking care of your family. It’s about giving folks just a little bit more breathing room.”

Though it was an official event, Biden turned his speech in the gymnasium into a de facto campaign rally, saying Harris would make a “hell of a president” and criticizing Republicans for not supporting Medicare’s right to negotiate drug pricing.

The administration said people covered by Medicare, which mostly serves Americans aged 65 and over, would also save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for the prescription medicines in 2026.