Hudson Statement on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Drug Pricing Program

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Richard Hudson (R-NC Dist. 9), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after the Biden-Harris administration announced drug price controls mandated by the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.”

“Kamala Harris and Joe Biden may try to tout the IRA's price-fixing system as a win for patients, but it's just the opposite,” Hudson said. “This disastrous plan will drive up the cost of other drugs, hamper innovation, and ultimately increase costs and limit choices for seniors and people with rare diseases – all while robbing taxpayers. Make no mistake: These price controls put patients last.”

background

Vice President Kamala Harris' nomination of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate makes health care reform a priority in the final stretch of the presidential election in November.

Walz, a 60-year-old former high school teacher and football coach, has a track record of supporting left-leaning health care initiatives during his two terms as governor and during his time in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. In addition, he leads a state that is central to the health care industry: Minnesota is home to both the nation's largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, and one of its most prestigious hospital systems, the Mayo Clinic.

Republicans uphold abortion access, which are mainstream positions that appeal to swing voters. Regardless, his election puts health care front and center as a campaign issue, underscoring the importance of the fight for abortion access in the country and voters' deep fear of rising health care costs.

Many of Walz's views coincide with those of Harris.

He fought for access to abortion, signed legislation to enshrine abortion rights in the state, and visited a Planned Parenthood clinic with the Vice President in March.

He supported a congressional bill that would authorize the federal government to negotiate drug prices under Medicare, a health insurance program for seniors and the disabled. The Biden administration on Aug. 15 released new, reduced prices for 10 drugs in the program that resulted from negotiations between the government and drugmakers. The lower costs will take effect in 2026.

As governor, Walz signed a law in 2020 capping the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 per month for eligible residents who urgently need the drug. Two years later, President Joe Biden did the same for all Medicare patients.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Walz ordered masks to be worn in most indoor public spaces. In 2020, he extended a presidential curfew, prompting former President Donald Trump to post “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” on X, the social platform then called Twitter.

“He has common sense when it comes to issues and policy,” said Andy Slavitt, a former UnitedHealth executive and former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “He's not an ideologue. He's an independent thinker who cares about people who don't have resources,” said Slavitt, who served as a senior adviser to the Biden administration's COVID response team.

Walz is also an advocate for fertility treatments and shared his personal story of how he and his wife, Gwen, had to rely on the treatment to get pregnant. As in vitro fertilization, despite its widespread popularity, is increasingly being questioned by some anti-abortion activists, his firsthand knowledge of the challenges of fertility gives him political weight.

“Walz has eloquently and passionately described his experience with IVF, and that resonates with people on both sides of the aisle,” says Christoper Sheeron, founder and president of Action for Health, a national nonprofit advocacy group.

Republicans in Minnesota say Walz's positions on health care will negatively impact the Democratic ticket. They criticize his COVID vaccination mandate for state employees in 2021 or his regular testing requirement, his support for legislation codifying abortion rights, his support for legalizing recreational marijuana and a bill he signed to extend public health insurance to some immigrants without legal residency.

“Under Governor Walz, we have seen one of the most radical, far-left agendas in the country. While Americans seek unity, Walz has a long history of extreme policies that only serve to divide us further,” Minnesota Senate Republican leader Mark Johnson said in a statement. “He put our state on the path to government-run health care and championed restrictive health care mandates that limit Minnesotans' access to life-saving care.”

Tracy Mitchell of Minnesota said that before selecting Walz, she was leaning toward supporting former President Donald Trump in November because she believed he would do more to reduce her health care costs.

The announcement solidified her decision: she is voting for Trump.

“I have three children and health care is getting expensive,” said Mitchell, 38, of Ham Lake, as she visited Stillwater, Minn., with her family. She is a program director at a psychiatric hospital.

“The way he handled COVID and health care, I think it was too extreme,” she said.

Still, Democrats hope that a greater focus on health care will give them an electoral advantage by addressing voters' concerns about financial problems in swing states.

Forty-eight percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning adults said health care affordability is a very big problem in the country, according to a May Pew Research Center poll. Sixty-five percent of Democrats or Democratic adults agreed.

The biggest concerns are illegal immigration, the federal budget deficit, gun violence and drug addiction.

Three-quarters of adults said they are very or somewhat concerned about their ability to pay unexpected medical bills, according to a survey conducted in January and February by KFF, a nonprofit health information organization that includes KFF Health News.

“Republicans have always suffered because they talk about health care in economic terms,” ​​said William Pierce, senior principal at APCO Worldwide, a global consulting and advocacy firm, and a former Republican congressional aide. “Democrats talk about it as a personal issue. Electing Walz gives them a greater chance to push it harder.”

Walz's counterpart on the Republican ticket, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has less experience with health care issues, but he has tried to express concern about the rising costs and hurdles in health care.

During a recent visit to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Vance said the government must do more to maintain access to health care in rural America.

In a July 2017 New York Times opinion piece, long before he ran for Senate as a Republican, Vance supported some provisions of the Affordable Care Act and criticized Republican efforts to repeal the law because, he said, the proposal “takes support away from the poor.”

Since joining Trump's campaign, Vance has shared his views on the ACA, a law that Trump refused to repeal during his presidency.

“The difference is between those who defend the ACA and those who would repeal it. The decision for Walz makes that contrast clearer than ever,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, a nonpartisan organization that focuses on health care access and affordability.

Vance advocated allowing drug prices to be negotiated with the federal government under Medicare – a rare point of agreement with Democrats on health policy.

Like Trump, he opposes gender reassignment surgery for transgender minors. However, he takes a more outspoken position on the abortion issue than the former president – a vulnerability that Democrats are trying to exploit. Public support for abortion rights has grown since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and many Republican-led states have passed strict bans.

Both Democratic and Republican campaigns are facing renewed scrutiny over their stance on health care reform. California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis' super PAC, Californians for Choice, released an ad this month saying Vance supports a statewide abortion ban that “takes away our freedom.”

Like Trump, Vance recently stated that states should decide on specific abortion policies, but he had previously supported a federal ban on abortion.

Trump's campaign team, meanwhile, referred to Walz as “Tampon Tim” for a state law he signed that requires menstrual products to be “available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in fourth through twelfth grades, according to a plan developed by the school district.”

In a recent Trump campaign ad, Walz was called “too weird. Too radical.”

But Walz's addition to the candidacy has mobilized Democratic voters with health-related concerns, such as Angel Palm, 32, a life coach for people with disabilities who lives in Fridley, Minnesota.

“My son is autistic and has medical expenses. This is so important,” she told KFF Health News. “I'm so excited.”