Washington, D.C. — During his State of the Union address last night, Donald Trump delivered one whopper and after another denying the affordability crisis even as a staggering 80 percent plus of Americans say costs have not come down on his watch, and “two-thirds of the public (66%) say they worry about being able to afford health care for them and their family.”
Today, health care advocacy group Save My Care underscored that there’s no sugarcoating the fact that health care costs are exploding no thanks to U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ-7) who helped pass the Trump-GOP Big Ugly Bill and its $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the largest health care cuts in history. The law is now ripping coverage away from 15 million Americans and spiking costs for millions more with higher deductibles, higher out-of-pocket limits, higher drug costs, and higher copays. With premiums soaring, hospitals shutting down, and public health in shambles, Trump also desperately tried to mislead the American people with empty promises to lower drug costs.
In reality, Trump and Republicans like Rep. Kean have done nothing to lower drug prices for patients. Trump promised to bring down drug prices by “1,000 percent,” yet the GOP tax bill pads drug company profits and raises drug costs for thousands of seniors. Trump’s drug pricing executive order reads like a wishlist for Big Pharma, his drug price “deals”boost drug company stocks, and TrumpRx fails miserably to save most Americans anything at all. Meanwhile, Democrats have saved seniors and taxpayers billions on drugs this year alone.
“‘Not long ago Donald Trump declared the affordability crisis is a ‘hoax’, then spent most of his SOTU speech claiming he fixed it,” said Brad Woodhouse, President of Save My Care. “That won’t pass the smell test with millions of Americans worried sick about how they’ll afford health care and medicine after Republicans like Rep. Tom Kean helped pass the worst health care cuts in U.S. history. The only thing Trump and Republicans in Congress fixed is the system further in favor of their big health insurance and big pharma megadonors while giving billionaires another tax break they don’t need. Rep. Kean can’t run from the pain the Big Ugly Bill is inflicting on seniors and working families when so many are now forced to make hard choices like groceries or medicine, paying health premiums or going hungry, taking their child to the doctor or falling further into debt. Rep. Tom Kean can’t hide behind Trump’s bogus Rx drug program that won’t save the vast majority of Americans a single cent. Rep. Tom Kean can either stay in Fantasy Land with Donald Trump where the sky is green and costs are low – or come to grips with reality that the health care affordability crisis he helped create is here to stay until the Big Ugly cuts are reversed.”
WORST TRUMP HEALTH CARE LIES FROM THE STATE OF THE UNION:
LIE: Trump brought down drug prices and is getting Americans the lowest prices in the world.
- TRUTH: Trump’s latest publicity stunt, TrumpRx, rips Americans off by charging them higher prices than they would pay through their insurance or for a low-cost generic version. Prices on TrumpRx are twice as high as in the UK and Australia for drugs like Ozempic. The Inflation Reduction Act, which passed without a single Republican vote, allowed Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors and is now saving seniors and taxpayers billions. Trump has a long history of opposing drug price negotiation and his big, ugly bill is costing seniors and taxpayers billions by delaying Medicare from negotiating lower prices on many of the most popular and expensive cancer treatments.
LIE: Trump wants to improve health care and reduce costs for everyday Americans.
- TRUTH: Trump puts drugmakers and big corporations above everyday people at every opportunity. He entertained drug company CEOs at his Mar-a-Lago resort, solicited millions in donations, then spent the past year handsomely rewarding Big Pharma for their support. Meanwhile, his war on health care is spiking health care costs and ripping away insurance coverage for millions of working families. 55 percent of Americans say their health care costs have gone up in the past year. Premiums increased by an average of:
■ 114 percent for 22 million Americans who buy insurance on their own
■ 10 percent for the 60 million seniors who rely on Medicare
■ 11 percent for the 10 million Americans who rely on small group insurance
■ 9 percent for the 160 million Americans with employer-based coverage
LIE: Trump has a “plan” to give money directly to the people instead of giving them health care.
- TRUTH: Republicans’ so-called plan is just a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that Trump and Republicans in Congress kicked nearly 15 million people off their health insurance by passing the largest cuts to health care in history. Trump’s “plan” to hand out cash fails to stop premium hikes, will drown working families in medical debt, and will enrich only the wealthy.
LIE: Trump protected Medicare and will “always protect Medicare.”
- TRUTH: Trump forced over 3 million low-income seniors on Medicare to pay thousands more each year in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Trump hiked the cost of Medicare prescription drug coverage and stopped seniors from being able to purchase popular generic drugs for only $2. Trump also signed a $9 billion bailout for big drug companies designed to hike drug prices for seniors on Medicare by carving out top-selling products such as lifesaving cancer drugs Keytruda and Opdivo from Medicare drug price negotiation. Countless seniors will be forced to choose between putting food on the table and paying for the health care they need to survive, thanks to Trump.
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