Biden on drug costs: 'Even if you think this doesn't affect you, it does'

published 6 December 2021

President Biden on Monday discussed the burden of prescription drug prices in America, and how his House-passed Build Back Better bill aims to ease some of those tensions.

"It will not surprise you to know that we pay the highest prescription drug prices of any developed nation in the world," the president lamented. "Even if you think this doesn't affect you, it does. Everyone has less money in their pockets because high drug costs make health insurance more expensive for everyone."

"Prescription drugs are outrageously expensive in this country," Biden went on, "doesn't need to be that way." And "under my Build Back Better bill ... it won't be the same way."

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The president then discussed, as an example, how his legislation will impact insulin prices and "lower the cost of families dealing with diabetes."

Biden concluded by explaining that the cost of prescription drugs is "not a partisan issue," because diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer, or any other disease "don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican."

Watch his full remarks below:

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.