What’s the difference between Trump, Biden actions on insulin prices?

Former President Trump has claimed he, and not President Biden or Vice President Harris, was responsible for capping the price of insulin at $35 a month. 

While the Trump administration implemented a temporary program under which some Medicare drug plans could voluntarily cap the cost of insulin, it was the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed into law by Biden that barred such plans from charging above $35 a month. 

Here’s a breakdown of each administration’s action on the issue. 

What Trump has said

Trump took credit for capping the price of insulin at $35 a month earlier this week during a campaign speech in North Carolina.   

“Kamala and Joe tried to take credit for $35 insulin, you know who did that? I did that,” Trump said during a 75-minute speech at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville.  

Trump previously claimed responsibilityfor lowering the price of insulin for Medicare recipients in a post on his social media platform Truth Social in June, claiming Biden “had nothing to do with it.”  

“Low INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it. It was all done long before he so sadly entered office. All he does is try to take credit for things done by others, in this case, ME!,” the post reads. 

What the Trump administration did

Trump’s comments both at his North Carolina rally and on Truth Social are false: The current cap on insulin prices was not put in place until after Biden entered office.   

The Trump administration did create a temporary program under which a subset of prescription drug plans could choose whether they wanted to cover some insulin products at no more than $35 a month.   

In 2020, the administration rolled out the Part D Senior Savings Model under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.   

Under this model, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans could volunteer to cover “at least one of each dosage form of a type of insulin product” at no more than $35 a month, according to an analysis by health policy research group KFF.   

The model took effect in 2021 and lasted until 2023, with less than half of all Part D prescription drug plans participating each year, according to KFF.   

What the Biden administration has done

Biden signed the IRA, which included a cap on the price of insulin, into law in 2022 in one of the signature legislative victories of his administration.  

Under the law, all Medicare Part D prescription plans are barred from charging more than $35 a month out-of-pocket for all covered insulin products.   

Provisions under the IRA also limit cost sharing to $35 a month for insulin products covered by Medicare Plan B and bar deductibles from being applied to insulins under both Part D and Part B plans.