Washington, United States—Joe Biden shared a key economic victory with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Thursday, after securing a cut on drug prices that could resonate with US voters worried about the cost of living.
The 81-year-old president and 59-year-old vice president announced the deal as they prepared to make their first joint trip since Biden’s seismic decision to drop out of the presidential election less than a month ago.
The “historic” agreement with drugmakers will reduce the price of 10 key medicines for seniors, for conditions including diabetes, heart failure and blood clots, they said in joint statements released by the White House.
The deal will save older Americans $1.5 billion and the Medicare federal health insurance scheme $6 billion in the first year, the statements added.
While the deal was Biden’s brainchild, he appears to have chosen to share the credit with Harris as she ramps up her battle with Republican Donald Trump ahead of November’s election.
Harris has already made bringing down high prices a key plank of her election campaign and will hope the announcement on medicines will win over voters who have long been struggling with inflation.
US residents face the highest prescription drug prices in the world, leaving many people to pay partly out of their own pocket, despite already exorbitant insurance premiums.
The pair will hail the drug price deal at an event in Maryland—their first outing together in the aftermath of Biden’s withdrawal from the election following a disastrous debate with Trump.
Biden highlighted Harris’s role, saying the “historic milestone” was only possible because the post-Covid Inflation Reduction Act was passed by Congress after his vice president cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
Harris added in her statement: “President Biden and I will never stop fighting for the health, wellbeing, and financial stability of the American people.”
