WASHINGTON — In response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address today, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) Executive Director Margarida Jorge released the following statement:
“The policy priorities President Biden put forth in his State of the Union address demonstrate his continued commitment to increasing access to affordable health care, stopping corporate profiteering and making our tax system more fair. Building on the historic progress he’s already led over the last two years, President Biden’s plans for the future would continue to lower costs, increase access and open up more opportunity for hard working Americans striving to make ends meet and get ahead in today’s unpredictable economy. Even as Republicans in Congress try to roll back the important reforms passed in the last Congress, make cuts to long standing benefits like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and give more tax breaks to the ultra rich and corporations, President Biden continues to press forward to finish the job on affordable prescriptions, coverage for low wage workers in non-Medicaid expansion states and ending the two-tiered tax system that lets millionaires get away with not paying what they owe.
“And he’s right. The time is now for Democrats and Republicans to work toward bipartisan action that finishes the job that the last Congress started by creating a universal $35 per month insulin cap, ending drug corporations’ monopoly power to increase prices anytime they want in private insurance, making permanent the enhanced tax credits in the Affordable Care Act and closing the Medicaid coverage gap. As the President pointed out, these popular reforms are all within reach if Congress agrees to other widely supported reforms like implementing a Billionaires Minimum Income Tax for the ultra rich and closing tax loopholes for big corporations that already pay too-low rates. Instead of proposals to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and cut important programs and benefits that millions depend on, Republican leaders in Congress should act in the best interest of their own constituents by working with Democrats to pass these policies that materially improve the lives of those they represent.”
