Washington
CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump delivered a Wednesday speech that was laden with false claims he has made earlier than. One in every of them was about insulin costs for seniors.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, claimed within the North Carolina tackle that Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent within the presidential election, and President Joe Biden are mendacity after they tout their success in bringing insulin costs for Medicare recipients all the way down to $35 per thirty days (per prescription). Trump claimed that they’re taking credit score for his personal work.
Trump mentioned: “Kamala and Joe tried to take credit score for $35 insulin. You recognize that? You recognize who did that? I did that. I did that. I did the insulin, and it kicked in. And you realize, I bear in mind once I did it – it needed to be a statute, it was a sure statute that took a sure time period – I mentioned, ‘I hope I’m elected as a result of any person’s going to get plenty of credit score for doing what I acquired carried out.’ I acquired it carried out, $35 insulin. And now they take credit score for it. It’s horrible. Horrible.” He complained that that they had not thanked him for his work, then mentioned, “As an alternative, they are saying, ‘We introduced insulin in at $35.’ It’s a lie.”
Information First: Trump’s narrative is fake. He did create a $35-per-month cap on insulin for some folks on Medicare, by a voluntary program that prescription drug plans may select to take part in, however didn’t signal a statute (a legislation) to safe the way forward for this system. Biden and Harris did get a statute handed – and that legislation created a everlasting $35-per-month Medicare insulin coverage that went far past Trump’s. The legislation ensured that each one 3.4 million-plus insulin customers on Medicare, not simply a few of them, acquired $35-per-month insulin. It did so by a compulsory cap that not solely covers extra folks than Trump’s voluntary cap did but in addition applies to a higher variety of insulin merchandise than Trump’s did and stays in impact at a stage of particular person drug spending at which Trump’s cap disappeared.
Trump may pretty say he performed a job in decreasing insulin prices and that Biden and Harris don’t deserve sole credit score. The Biden-era federal authorities has acknowledged that Biden’s necessary $35 month-to-month cap “closely aligns with” the voluntary $35 month-to-month cap within the Trump-created program that was introduced in 2020 and launched within the closing month of the Trump presidency in 2021.
However Trump’s try to create the impression that Biden and Harris are merely seizing credit score for his coverage is inaccurate. The Biden administration’s coverage goes past Trump’s coverage in a number of methods, along with the truth that it was enshrined by laws.
The Biden coverage applies the $35-per-month cap to each insulin person in Medicare Half D, whereas the Trump coverage didn’t; the Biden coverage applies the $35 cap to Medicare Half B, whereas the Trump coverage was just for Medicare Half D; the Biden coverage requires a $35 cap on all coated insulin merchandise, whereas the Trump coverage solely required it on some; and the Biden coverage eliminates insulin funds for sufferers on the “catastrophic” stage of drug spending, whereas the $35 cap didn’t exist on the “catastrophic” stage below the Trump coverage.
You possibly can learn extra particulars here.
Trump made quite a lot of different false claims within the Wednesday speech. Here’s a temporary reality examine of 13 of these claims, a lot of which have been beforehand debunked. (This isn’t a whole record.)
– He claimed that the worth of bacon “went up by 4 or 5 instances” below Biden and Harris. It’s actually up 18%, nowhere close to the 300% or 400% spike Trump is claiming.
– He claimed that Harris’ coverage proposals will end in folks’s taxes quadrupling. Specialists say there isn’t a foundation for this declare.
– Talking of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he claimed Biden is “letting him have the entire thing.” In actual fact, Biden has led a world effort to assist Ukraine combat Russia; Russia has up to now been capable of seize about 18% of Ukraine’s territory, nowhere close to your entire nation.
– He mentioned Covid-19 was “ending all around the world, it was just about ending” when Biden and Harris took workplace in January 2021. It was not.
– He mentioned his tax cuts have been the most important ever. They were not.
– He mentioned he took in a whole lot of billions of {dollars} from China by his tariffs on Chinese language merchandise, and that no earlier president had taken in “10 cents” from tariffs on China. Each claims are fallacious. Study after study has discovered that People paid the overwhelming majority of the price of Trump’s tariffs, and the US was producing billions per yr in income from tariffs on China earlier than Trump took workplace.
– He mentioned Biden appointed Harris as “border czar” and put her in command of the border. In actuality, Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been in command of border safety below Biden; Biden gave Harris a extra restricted immigration-related task, asking her to guide diplomacy with Central American international locations in an try to handle the “root causes” of their residents’ migration.
– He mentioned he constructed 571 miles of border wall. Official government statistics present it was 458 miles, most of it alternative barrier.
– He mentioned he constructed extra border wall “than I mentioned I used to be going to construct.” In actual fact, he repeatedly mentioned throughout his 2016 marketing campaign that “we’d like” 1,000 miles of wall, way over he ended up constructing.
– He mentioned he pressured Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, to deploy the Nationwide Guard throughout civil unrest in Minneapolis in 2020. In actual fact, Walz deployed the Nationwide Guard before Trump pressured him to do so.
– He mentioned Venezuela is “taking all of their criminals” and other people from psychological establishments and “bringing” them to the US. Specialists say there’s no evidence for this claim.
– He mentioned Houston has the one refinery on the earth that may deal with Venezuelan oil. Various other refineries in the US refine Venezuelan oil.