Trump takes credit for Biden's insulin price cap

Former President Donald Trump acknowledged Saturday that insulin prices are lower under President Joe Biden, but he still wants voters to give credit to his own administration.

“I and the Trump Administration got LOW INSULIN PRICES for millions of Americans, not corrupt Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “It was all done long before he so sadly took office. All he does is try to take credit for things done by others, in this case, ME!”

The comment comes as Trump trails Biden on health care, a top voter priority as the November election approaches.

For example, a May poll from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found that Biden has an 11-point lead over Trump on the issue of ensuring access to affordable health insurance.

Biden led the poll on several other health care issues, although the candidates were relatively divided on addressing high health care costs. The survey surveyed 1,479 American adults from April 23 to May 1 and the margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

The two candidates are expected to hold their first face-to-face presidential debate on June 27.

Caps on insulin prices have become a central test of Biden's broader economic argument in the election campaign against Trump.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden issued a series of provisions aimed at reducing drug prices for seniors, including capping the price of insulin at $35 a month for Medicare beneficiaries. The president has continued to push for a more universal insulin limit that also covers the youngest.

“Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month!” Biden said in his State of the Union address in March. “And now I want to limit the cost of insulin to $35 a month for every American who needs it!”

The Democratic incumbent is trying to use lower insulin costs as evidence that he has helped reduce consumer costs despite persistently high levels of inflation that have loomed over the U.S. economy's post-pandemic recovery.

For Trump, the former president signed an executive order in the final year of his administration to issue his own $35 price cap on insulin. Biden later paused that policy when he took office as part of a larger freeze to allow his administration to review new regulations that would take effect.

But the memory of Trump-era health care policies has still clouded some voters' views of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's record. A CNBC All-America economic poll released in December found Biden ahead of Trump by 19 points on health care.

Trump unsuccessfully spent most of his presidential term trying to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Care Act without offering a viable alternative health care option. The ACA provides health insurance to about 45 million Americans, according to a March White House estimate.

Trump has doubled down on his promise to replace Obamacare in his 2024 campaign, although he has not yet outlined what that replacement would look like.

“I'm not running to end the ACA, like corrupt Joe Biden says everywhere,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social account in April. “We're going to make the ACA much better than it is now and much less expensive for you.”