For a policy wonk, no White House task is more fun and exhilarating than the privilege of working on a State of the Union address with the president and his speechwriters. The challenge for the current White House is to reset voters’ perception of an enfeebled president struggling to address a myriad of domestic and international challenges that have gotten objectively worse since he took office.
President Joe Biden is trailing in the polls in almost every swing state, but Democrats likely believe healthcare is their ace in the hole. But it’s an area where their perceived advantage may be their downfall. John Kerry learned this the hard way in 2004 when he tried to tout his service in Vietnam over George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard. A perceived strength can quickly become a weakness.
Biden can certainly tug at heartstrings with emotional references to his son Beau, who died too young of brain cancer, to challenge Congress to reinvigorate his signature “cancer moonshot.” After all, cancer rates among young people are markedly higher.
A renewed focus on fighting the disease would be welcome, but his policies push in the wrong direction, including his signature Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price controls. But don’t expect Biden to admit to the consequences of his policies.
Biden won’t mention that because of the IRA, two cancer clinical development programs have already been canceled. He won’t tell you that five companies have canceled other clinical research programs. And he won’t mention the countless more that are reexamining their research portfolios. Coupled with demands for the government to abrogate drug company patents with “March-In Rights,” companies and their investors are shying away from the research cancer patients so desperately need.
Speaking of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden won’t mention how it has destabilized Medicare prescription drug coverage. More generous coverage requirements without offsetting subsidies mean average premiums spiked 21% this year. Part D coverage for traditional Medicare enrollees is an average of five times more expensive than Part D coverage for Medicare Advantage, which is able to cross-subsidize the cost of the drug benefit with federal medical benefit payments. The number of stand-alone Part D plans, which cater to traditional Medicare, has reached an all-time low, and the problem will only get worse as time goes on. There was a time when sharp premium increases would be met with public outcry. Biden should not get a pass.
Biden will probably mention the IRA’s environmental bona fides. He won’t mention that the law removed $266 billion from Medicare to subsidize expensive electric vehicles. Biden should explain his decision to take this money from a program slated for insolvency by 2031, which provides health benefits for a population with a median income of $36,000, to subsidize cars largely purchased by individuals making four or five times this amount. But Biden has a style in these speeches: All will be fine if those making more than $400,000 pay just a little more in taxes so that Democrats can keep throwing money at programs that are failing.
He’s also likely to tout the record enrollment numbers for Obamacare since he’s taken office and bait “MAGA Republicans” for not repealing it. But 14 years hence, people remain deeply unsatisfied with our healthcare system.
Obamacare is great, as long as you’re not on it. The plans are too expensive — even for individuals with a $0 premium, the median enrollment weighted deductible for a silver plan in 2023 was $5,400. And if Uncle Sam isn’t paying for your plan, the average benchmark premium for a 27-year-old was $382 per month.
One might expect all this money to buy access to the best providers in a plan’s coverage area. But often, these providers are out of network, meaning patients who want to see these specialists must pay drastically higher costs. Is it any wonder people are unhappy with their healthcare?
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If you’re a hammer, every problem is a nail. Whether it’s childcare, transportation, or healthcare, Biden approaches every problem with the same strategy: massive federal subsidies, heavy-handed regulation, reductions in choice and competition, and higher taxes to pay for it all.
Biden’s speech will try to paint his efforts as giving Americans breathing room. But the fact that people now spend 11% of their income on groceries, pay 17% more for electricity than in 2021, pay $0.90 more per gallon of gas than in January 2021, and pay $24,000 to insure their families reveals the truth: Biden’s policies are actually smothering us.
Joe Grogan is a visiting senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center and served as domestic policy adviser to President Donald Trump, 2019-20.
