President Joe Biden is trying to rewrite his record on healthcare and hoping no one notices.
“More Americans have healthcare today than under any other president, and it’s saving the American taxpayers money,” he claimed recently. He then said his political opponents plan to reverse his “accomplishments” and “take healthcare away” from millions of people.
A neutral fact-checker would rate those claims “mostly false.”
While more people have health insurance than before, access to affordable and personalized healthcare continues to dwindle under the Biden administration. As more and more patients are discovering, having a health insurance card does not guarantee access to medical care.
Here are the facts on healthcare under Biden:
- People are currently experiencing the single largest jump in medical expenses in nearly a decade.
- Almost 75% of voters still worry about healthcare costs and unexpected bills.
- Nearly 40% of people delayed medical care last year due to concerns about cost.
- Sixty-eight percent of voters believe the healthcare system has major problems or is in a state of crisis.
This is not something any president should brag about.
It would be easy to dismiss Biden’s rhetoric as just more of the usual campaign talking points. But this time it’s outright hypocritical. It is the president’s own policies that are responsible for the high out-of-pocket costs, limited choices, lack of price transparency, and growing hospital monopolies that have become the hallmarks of healthcare in the U.S.
Take, for example, Biden’s vow not to cut Medicare and his claim that Republicans will. The truth is, the president already cut billions from Medicare as part of his Inflation Reduction Act.
Now, he’s attacking the popular and effective Medicare Advantage plans that more than half of eligible seniors have voluntarily chosen. Medicare Advantage plans give seniors more choice and control, better benefits, and a cap on out-of-pocket costs — things they can’t get with the old, 1960s-style bureaucratic version of Medicare. Seniors are voting with their feet in favor of consumer choice and competition, and the president is trying to shut the door because it’s making the bureaucracy look bad.
Biden also claims he’s fighting to lower healthcare costs. But he’s kicking roughly 3 million people off the affordable short-term health plans they like and forcing them into more expensive plans that don’t fit their needs.
And contrary to Biden’s claim that the Affordable Care Act “saves money,” the government-run healthcare program has made healthcare less affordable. Average ACA premiums have more than doubled over the past decade (remember, we were promised the ACA would lower premiums for all people). And average deductibles — the amount you must pay before your insurance kicks in — are up nearly 60%. This is all despite Biden’s massively higher taxpayer subsidies.
Biden’s biggest false claim? That his opponents in Congress don’t have any healthcare solutions and want to take the country backward. I talk to lawmakers and staff on Capitol Hill every day. There’s zero evidence to support the president’s claims.
In fact, Congress is focused on bipartisan solutions that expand access to affordable healthcare. Congressional Republicans have introduced dozens of healthcare bills aimed at boosting price transparency, ending unfair billing by hospitals, and empowering lower-income people to control their healthcare dollars through health savings accounts — a measure that would save taxpayers close to $30 billion. Yet another GOP bill would even offer every person the option to obtain the care of their choosing through a generous, universal personal health credit worth $12,000 for a family of four.
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These proposals would make healthcare more affordable, expand access, improve quality, and strengthen America’s health safety net, all while protecting taxpayers. And they’re popular with the voters Biden needs – independents, suburban women, lower- and middle-income families, and minorities. An issue that at one time may have been a weakness for Republicans is now a strength.
Biden is pushing a narrative on healthcare that ignores reality. Moreover, it’s his own failed policies that have limited access and increased costs. And it’s the solutions at the heart of the GOP’s health agenda that will put patients in control of their healthcare.
Lauren Stewart is senior federal legislative liaison at Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Veterans for America.
