It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.
President Joe Biden
President Biden during a visit to the National Institutes of Health
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visiting a school.
With that surprising announcement, we all learned that Joe Biden will not be the next President of the United States. Please join me in thanking President and Mrs. Biden for their service and wish them well in their future endeavors.
I had planned to share this post after the Democratic Convention when Biden was expected to be officially nominated for President. Instead, I am sharing it as a reminder of what he accomplished in healthcare as President.
Two years ago I had to leave a job I loved without warning and at my stage of life it wasn’t wise or practical to start over somewhere else. Initially, I felt sad and disappointed, but I have found other ways to use my time and experience.
I suspect we will continue to see the Bidens stay as active and involved as possible, although they deserve a well-earned rest.
The Biden Healthcare Record
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, referred to as the Affordable Care Act or “ACA” for short, is the comprehensive health care reform law enacted in March 2010. This was during President Barack Obama’s administration, thus the frequently used nickname “ObamaCare.” Joe Biden was serving as Vice President.
The following unedited data from the KFF website includes Biden’s policies on the Affordable Care Act, cost of medical care, prescription drug pricing, public health, and mental health.
KFF is a nonprofit health policy research, polling, and news organization.
There is more data about reproductive and sexual health issues, long-term care, global health, and gun violence which you can read at the highlighted link.
Affordable Care Act
- Signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which temporarily expanded eligibility for and increased ACA Marketplace subsidies. These were extended by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) through 2025.
- Fixed the “family glitch,” allowing dependents of people with unaffordable employer-based family coverage to receive ACA subsidies.
- Reversed Trump administration expansion of short-term plans and restored outreach and enrollment assistance and funding.
- Achieved record-high enrollment in ACA Marketplace plans.
- Biden proposes to build on legislation passed during his term and make expanded subsidies offered under the IRA permanent.
- Proposed a public option health plan during the 2020 campaign but did not issue a formal plan once in office.
Health Care Costs
- Under his administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. Biden also proposes that in the first 100 days of his next term, he would “wipe out” medical debt for “pennies on the dollar.”
- In 2021, began implementing the No Surprises Act, establishing processes to determine payments for out-of-network bills and resolving payment disputes.
- Proposed expanding surprise billing protections to ground ambulance providers.
- Expanded the Trump-era rules on price transparency to address implementation challenges and enforce the legislation.
- Signed the Inflation Reduction Act, empowering Medicare to negotiate prices for certain drugs with pharmaceutical companies and increase subsidies for ACA marketplace plans (more details in Prescription Drug Prices section).
- Proposed a public option health plan during the 2020 campaign but did not issue a formal plan once in office.
Prescription Drug Prices
- Signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which requires the government to negotiate prices for some Medicare-covered drugs (with the number growing over time), requires drug companies to pay rebates if prices rise faster than inflation, caps out-of-pocket drug spending, and limits monthly insulin costs to $35 for Medicare beneficiaries in Part B and all Part D plans, improves financial assistance for low-income beneficiaries, and other changes.
- Proposes to expand the number of drugs selected for government price negotiation and extend $35 insulin copay cap and drug out-of-pocket cap to people with commercial insurance.
- Approved Florida’s plan to import some prescription drugs from Canada; implementation contingent on further action by Florida.
- Delayed implementation of the Trump Administration’s drug rebate rule until 2032, which will delay projected increases in Medicare spending.
- Established a voluntary model to increase access to cell and gene therapies for people with Medicaid.
Public Health
- Committed to listening to science, public health advice, and evidence-based guidance in the COVID-19 response.
- Enacted new federal COVID response policies such as mask and vaccine mandates, expanded access to testing and vaccines, and a major effort to bolster the national public health workforce.
- Focused on federal responsibility for giving states “the critical supplies they need.”
- Established a new White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy.
- Initiated a CDC reorganization and modernization project “to better share science and data to better serve and protect the American public.”
- Has proposed significant increases in the nation’s public health budget each year, including in the FY 2025 budget, which calls for $20 billion in new mandatory funding for pandemic preparedness and response, and $12 billion over ten years for a new Vaccines for Adults program.
- Started new initiatives to combat health misinformation and address health inequities.
Mental Health
- Supported and signed the Safer Communities Act, which included provisions to increase school mental health and substance use services (building on Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act) and strengthen state requirements for Medicaid-enrolled youth in response to worsening youth mental health.
- Launched the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force to protect children’s mental health and safety from online harm. The Surgeon General appointed by Biden has also called for warning labels on social media platforms.
- Enhanced behavioral health access opportunities for Medicaid enrollees by establishing maximum appointment wait times, surveying enrollee experiences, and adding rate transparency policies, which may result in improved rates and more provider participation.
- Expanded the Medicaid CCBHC Demonstration by adding 10 new states to the program.
- Enhanced crisis care by building up 988 and mobile crisis services, and released the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, with focus on high-risk groups (e.g., LGBTQ+, veterans, moms).
- Proposed updated requirements for health plans in order to comply with mental health parity.
Source-KFF
“Compare the Candidates on Health Care Policy”, KFF, July 15, 2024, https://www.kff.org/compare-2024-candidates-health-care-policy/(accessed July 23, 2024)
KFF’s website content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license that allows for the sharing of information with proper attribution and without alteration.
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NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli joins President Joe Biden at the signing of the Presidential Memorandum on Women’s Health Research
President Joe Biden, joined by First Lady Jill Biden, signs the Presidential Memorandum on Women’s Health Research. NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli and Office of Research on Women’s Health Director Dr. Janine Clayton (on right) attended this historic event. Credit: Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz; Public Domain
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Joe Biden was more effective in one term than most are in two. He has my utmost respect. And I am thrilled about the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency!
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Hi Michelle, and thanks for the feedback. These are changes that doctors and patients both welcome. And yes, a woman president will be historic.
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I honestly had no clue President Biden had done so much for medical care. My husband and I are lucky to have insurance provided by the company from which he retired. I’ve found Medicare to be a wonderful thing as it caps costs for us both. I can personally relate to the transparency for charges as my youngest son had been sent for a sleep study. His insurance paid the first one, but his doctor ordered a second one for some reason. He was never told of the costs of the first one, but someone from the hospital’s financial office called him about the costs of the second one. The cost would be several thousand dollars with him having to pay quite a bit. Luckily, he discovered this and cancelled the second sleep study. I’m not 100% sure why those studies were ordered, but his doctor was OK with the second one being cancelled. I also have a very good friend who is diabetic. Her insurance will not OK the drugs her doctor has prescribed even though they have worked wonderfully lowering her A1C. Unfortunately, her deductible is several thousand dollars so any medication she takes for her diabetes is extremely costly. She is not, however, on insulin. I’m sure you know what a pain insurance is.
I did not know you had to leave your job without warning. That must have been devastating. I’m glad you give us these medical updates, though. I really do appreciate them.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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Thanks and you’re welcome Marsha. Most people don’t consider healthcare as important an issue as the economy, immigration, inflation, and crime, although it’s related to all of those. And most of us don’t think about healthcare until we need it.
As much as we can thank the President and Congress for changes in healthcare financing, much of it starts at the grassroots level with physicians working through their state and national medical societies to bring about changes. We want patients to afford the drugs and treatments we believe will best help them.
My husband and I both appreciate out Medicare coverage, as well as the coverage we get through the VA.
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