WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday lasted a record-setting 107 minutes, of which he dedicated just around five minutes to health care policy.
While he did not introduce any new policies, Trump called on Congress to codify his Most Favored Nation drug pricing program, which aims to lower drug prices to be on par with those of other countries. He specifically made the request to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
To further highlight his policies on drug pricing, Trump brought up the story of guest Catherine Rayner, who he said received reduced prices for drugs related to IVF through the Trump Rx website.
“Catherine, we are all praying for you and you’re going to be a great mom,” Trump said.
After the end of Trump’s speech, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke with Sean Hannity on Fox News and touted what he sees as the success of Trump’s drug pricing policies.
“We’ve gone from the highest price in the world to the lowest price in the world,” Kennedy falsely claimed.
According to the nonpartisan organization FactCheck.org, some consumers may see lower prices for drugs as a result of Trump’s efforts, but significant savings for Americans are not a guarantee.
Trump also said he is “confronting… the crushing cost of health care,” which he described as “one of the biggest rip-offs of our time.”
The expiration of the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits on Jan. 1, a major point of contention during the government shutdown last fall, caused many Americans to pay more for their health insurance or lose it entirely. Democrats wanted to extend the premiums but could not convince their Republican counterparts to extend them.
“I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead, give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own health care, which will be better health care at a much lower cost,” Trump said in his speech.
However, many of the ideas outlined in Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan” have not seen a swell of support from Republicans in Congress and, according to reporting from Politico, may not have a path to becoming law.
Many Congressional Democrats skipped the State of the Union altogether. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger gave the Democratic response to Trump from Williamsburg, Virginia.
Spanberger criticized Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
“Tonight, the president celebrated this law — the one threatening rural hospitals (and) stripping health care from millions of Americans,” Spanberger said.