Joe Biden on Health Care Former Vice President; previously Democratic Senator (DE)

Sub-sections under Health Care:
• ObamaCare
• Pandemics
• Other issues under Health Care

Negotiated Medicare prices for first 10 drugs

Congress for decades prohibited Medicare from negotiating drug prices, something that virtually all other countries do. It's a chief reason why drug prices are two to four times higher in the United States than in other wealthy countries. Medicare will pay less than half of the current list prices on nine of the first 10 drugs that were included in the program.

"For years, millions of Americans were forced to choose between paying for medications or putting food on the table, while Big Pharma blocked Medicare from being able to negotiate prices on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities," Biden said in a statement. "But we fought back--and won."

Cut cost of prescription drugs, cap insulin at $35 a month

But drug companies charge families like Joshua and his Dad up to 30 times more. For Joshua, and for the 200,000 other young people with Type 1 diabetes, let's cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month so everyone can afford it.

As Wall Street firms take over more nursing homes, quality in those homes has gone down and costs have gone up. That ends on my watch. Medicare is going to set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and expect.

ARPA-H: end cancer as we know it

Individual mandate is constitutional even with $0 tax

Vox.com summary:The CA v. TX case was brought by Texas officials who object to ObamaCare, centered on the law's individual mandate [which] required most Americans to either obtain health insurance or pay higher taxes. In 2017, Congress amended ObamaCare to zero out this tax. The Texas plaintiffs claimed that this zeroed-out tax is unconstitutional and also claimed that the entire law must be declared invalid if the zero dollar tax is stuck down. In a 7-2 ruling, the Court ruled that no one is allowed to bring suit to challenge a provision of law that does nothing.

Biden in Reuters:"A big win for the American people," President Joe Biden, whose administration opposed the lawsuit, wrote in a Twitter post, adding that millions of people rely upon the law for healthcare coverage while encouraging others to sign up. Biden has pledged to expand healthcare access and buttress ObamaCare. Biden had criticized Republican efforts to strike down the law during a pandemic.

No transgendered discrimination by healthcare providers

PROMISE PARTLY KEPT: (NBC News, 5/10/21): The Biden administration is reversing a policy introduced that limited protections for transgender people in health care. In a victory for LGBTQ advocates, the change will bar health care providers who receive federal funding from discriminating based on someone's gender identity or sexual orientation.

ANALYSIS: If a transgendered person goes to an HMO that doesn't receive federal funding, it's still legal to discriminate against them for being transgendered--that's not "all people"! To address private HMOs would require state and federal legislation.

Create an advanced research project agency for health

Public option is not socialism

BIDEN: I say it's ridiculous. It's like saying that the fact that there's a public option that people can choose, that makes it a socialist plan? Look, the difference between the president and me: I think healthcare is not a privilege, it's a right. Everyone should have the right to have affordable healthcare, and I am very proud of my plan.

TRUMP: He wants socialized medicine. His vice president, she wants it even more. The Democrats want it. You're going to have socialized medicine.

BIDEN: People deserve to have affordable healthcare, period. Period, period, period. And the Biden care proposal will in fact provide for that affordable healthcare. What we're going to do is going to cost some money. It's going to cost over $750 billion over 10 years to do it. And they're going to have lower premiums.

President must tell whole truth about his health

Allow serious return on investment in new drugs, not gouging

BIDEN: What I proposed is that for every new drug coming on the market--everything from dementia drugs to Alzheimer's to cancer to diabetes--we're going to put together a 25-person commission of scientific experts, and every new drug you're seeking approval of will go before that commission. And you are going to indicate how much you invested to provide that drug. You'll get a serious return on your investment, but once that price is set, that's the only price you can sell it for, or you're not going to get the drug approved. Once that is done, then you cannot come along and up the price exponentially. You can only up the price once it's set through inflation or if you can demonstrate there has been something specifically done to improve the drug. The American public understands that there is so much price gouging for things that should be a basic right to access--things that allow you to live.

We can beat cancer: invest more money in research

COVID19: make sure there's free testing & free treatment

Lower Medicare eligibility age to 60

Public option for ObamaCare; $50 billion for research

BIDEN: I would restore all the cuts this president has made in the Affordable Care Act, across the board. I add what they call a public option, and that is a Medicare-like option. If you wanted to buy into that option or if you didn't have the money, you would be able to get it for free. So it's Medicare if you want it. If you qualify for Medicaid and you don't have it in your state, you're automatically enrolled. There is no waiting for anything.

Secondly, we make sure we reduce drug prices, as well, allowing Medicare to be able to negotiate with the drug companies the cost of drugs. And I would invest over $50 billion to focus on the diseases that cause the most damage and cost the most--cancer, Alzheimer's, and obesity.

We should have a department that says what we're going to do is spend the money needed that the drug companies are unwilling to spend or unable to spend to make sure that we find cures.

Got ObamaCare passed and will expand it

My Medicare if you want it plan is affordable

Biden Cancer Initiative: data from multiple researchers

Tax capital gains at bracket levels to pay for health plan

BIDEN: I'm going to restore the cuts, reduce out-of-pocket expenses and premiums, and add a Medicare option for those who want it. If you have private insurance, and you like it, keep it. If they cancel the policy, you can buy into the Biden plan. I'm adding $1 billion for dealing with drug abuse and opioids. I can pay for it by making sure people pay their capital gains at whatever their tax rate is.

Invest $50B in new agency to fight cancer

Medicare-for-all plan costs $30 trillion & will raise taxes

Joe Biden: [Sen. Sanders' healthcare plan] costs $30 trillion. Let's get that straight--$30 trillion over 10 years. The idea that you're going to be able to save that person making $60,000 a year on Medicare-for-all is preposterous. 16% of the American public is on Medicare now and everybody has a tax taken out of their paycheck now. Tell me, you're going to add 84% more and it's not going to be higher taxes, at least before he was honest about it. It's going to increase personal taxes.

Sanders: That's right. We got to increase personal taxes, but we're eliminating premiums, we're eliminating copayments, we're eliminating deductibles.

Straightforward approach on healthcare, not ten year plans

HARRIS: I have been listening to American families, who said four years is just not enough to transition into this new plan, so I devised a plan where it's going to be 10 years of a transition. I listened to American families who said I want an option that will be under your Medicare system that allows a private plan.

BIDEN: Any time someone tells you you're going to get something good in 10 years, you should wonder why it takes 10 years. And the plan in 10 years will cost $3 trillion. You will lose your employer-based insurance. This is the single most important issue facing the public. And to be very straightforward, you can't beat President Trump with double-talk on this plan.

Limit co-pays to $1,000; keep your own insurance

Biden: My plan makes a limit of co-pay to be $1,000, because we further support the ability to buy into ObamaCare. No one has to keep their private insurance, but if they like their insurance, they should be able to keep it. Nothing is demanded in my plan that there be private insurance. If the 160 million who have it like their employer insurance, they should have a right to have it. If they don't, they can buy into the Biden plan.

Future of healthcare is biopharma; control those prices

Biden: My plan will cover everyone. Number two, the fact is that my plan also calls for controlling drug prices. Biopharma is now where things are going to go. It's no longer chemicals. It's about all these breakthroughs that we have with the immune system. What we have to do is have a form that says, as you develop a drug, you got to come to us and decide what you can sell it for. We will set the price. And secondly, you cannot raise that price beyond the cost of inflation from this point on.

I have only plan limiting insurance companies

Biden: I have the only plan that limits the ability of insurance companies to charge unreasonable prices, flat out, number one. Number two, we should put some of these insurance executives who totally oppose my plan in jail for the $9 billion opioids they sell out there.

Cover undocumented immigrants to reduce overall cost of care

National effort to cure cancer by genomics

In June 2016, Biden unveiled the federal Genomic Data Commons--a database for consolidating all the key clinical trials, stats, and treatments [among other actions on the "Cancer Moonshot"].

Increased funding for NIH to highest level in a decade

"You know, last year, Vice President Biden said that, with a new moon-shot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources that they've had in over a decade. .

"So tonight, I'm announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he's gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, I'm putting Joe in charge of mission control. For the loved ones we've all lost, for the families that we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. What do you think? Let's make it happen. And medical research is critical."

Moonshot on cancer: increase resources, cooperation

1. Increase resources--both private and public--to fight cancer.
2. Break down silos and bring all the cancer fighters together--to work together, share information, and end cancer as we know it.

Modernize, simplify & expand health insurance

Help medical students find ways to finance their tuition

Rethink healthcare by focusing on prevention

A: Absolutely. We have to view it in three ways. Prevention. You know, an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure is real. We virtually do not have anything that rewards those people who are engaged in their physician's or insurer's companies that emphasize prevention. The second thing we have to do is we have to provide for changing the way we think of it as an employer-based system totally. We have an overwhelming opportunity now to get universal health care, because business needs more than labor or business needs it more than the uninsured. They cannot compete internationally. We have to think about it really differently, but the delivery of health care we have to think about differently, too. The idea we're not going to be opening up little clinics in shopping centers all across America that is going to generate avoidance of operating of emergency rooms is just not reasonable.

Start with catastrophic insurance and insuring all kids

A: We need not just 100,000 new cops, but 100,000 new nurses that we fund in order to make things better. We have to be in a position where we don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good. In the first year, I'd insure every single, solitary child in America and make sure catastrophic insurance exists, and for every single person in America, while we move toward a national health care system covering anybody.

Survived two aneurysms in the 1990s

Running is a horrible strain, and those with long memories will recall that Biden survived two aneurysms more than a decade ago. Racing to Iowa every spare second to go to farm breakfasts at 5:30 a.m., making calls every minute begging for money, flying commercial (coach, no less) day after day, gets old awfully fast if you don't have that fire in your belly.

Don't let Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act

In fact, I'm not only protecting it, I'm expanding it. The enacted tax credits save $800 per person per year, reduced health care cost for millions of working families. That tax credit expire next year. I want to make that savings permanent.

To state the obvious, women are more than half our population, but research on women's health has always been underfunded. That's why we're launching the first-ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research. Pass my plan for $12 billion to transform women's health research and benefit millions of lives all across America.

Cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American

Give Medicare power to negotiate lower prescription prices

Cap insurance at 8.5% of income instead of 10%

PROMISE KEPT: (CNN, 3/6/21): [In the stimulus plan]: Enrollees would pay no more than 8.5% of their income towards coverage, down from nearly 10% now. Also, those earning more than the current cap of 400% of the federal poverty level--about $51,000 for an individual and $104,800 for a family of four in 2021--would become eligible for help. Both chambers seek to entice states that have yet to expand Medicaid to low-income adults to do so by boosting their federal Medicaid matching funds by 5 percentage points for two years.

Re-open ACA enrollment; restore ObamaCare to pre-Trump level

PROMISE KEPT:(Executive Order on Medicare 1/28/21): It is the policy of my Administration to protect and strengthen Medicaid and the ACA and to make high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable for every American. In light of the exceptional circumstances caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, establish a Special Enrollment Period for uninsured and under-insured Americans to seek coverage through the Federally Facilitated Marketplace.

OnTheIssues ANALYSIS: Biden made his promise at the beginning of the pandemic, and all healthcare policy in 2021 is tied up with the pandemic. Biden has largely restored ObamaCare cuts--by reopening ACA enrollment--and largely subsidized ObamaCare--via pandemic spending and pandemic justification.

ObamaCare plus a public option makes BidenCare

BIDEN: What I'm going to do is pass ObamaCare with a public option, and become BidenCare. The public option says that if you qualify for Medicaid and you do not have the wherewithal in your state to get Medicaid, you automatically are enrolled, providing competition for insurance companies. That's what's going to happen. Secondly, we're going to make sure we reduce the premiums and reduce drug prices by making sure that there's competition, that doesn't exist now, by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the insurance companies. Thirdly, the idea that I want to eliminate private insurance, the reason why I had such a fight with 20 candidates for the nomination was I support private insurance. That's why. Not one single person with private insurance would lose their insurance under my plan, nor did they under ObamaCare. They did not lose their insurance unless they chose they wanted to go to something else.

Pre-existing conditions are in jeopardy from Supreme Court

BIDEN: I think that healthcare overall is very much in jeopardy as a consequence of the President's going to go directly after this election directly to the Supreme Court within a month to try to get ObamaCare wiped out after 10 million people have already lost their insurance from their employer and wants to take 20 million people out of the system as well, plus 100 million people with pre-existing conditions.

TRUMP: We got rid of the individual mandate on ObamaCare, and now you could actually say it's not ObamaCare because you had to pay a fortune for the privilege of not having to pay for bad health insurance, so we got rid of that. By the way, we're always protecting people with pre-existing conditions, and I can't say that more strongly. The problem with ObamaCare, it's not good. We'd like to terminate it, and we want a much less expensive healthcare that's a much better healthcare.

A hundred million people have pre-existing conditions

TRUMP: There aren't a hundred million people with pre-existing conditions. Joe, the hundred million people is totally wrong. I don't know where you got that number.

FactCheck by NBC News, Sept. 20: A 2017 study from the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that about 133 million people had a pre-existing condition that would make them unable to buy insurance.

Public option won't end private insurance; only for Medicaid

BIDEN: It does not. It's only for those people who are so poor they qualify for Medicaid they can get that free in most states, except Governors who want to deny people who are poor Medicaid. Anyone who qualifies for Medicaid would automatically be enrolled in the public option. The vast majority of the American people would still not be in that option.

Add public option to ACA, healthcare is a right

BIDEN: First of all, in the middle of this pandemic, what is the President doing? He's in Federal Court--Federal Court trying to do away with the Affordable Care Act. What I would do is reinstate the Affordable Care Act and add a public option. So would go without being able to be covered for what they need. Healthcare is an absolute right.

Restore all cuts made to ObamaCare, then add more

Must divulge cost of health care legislation

Add mental health parity to ObamaCare, with Biden option

Reform healthcare, don't force folks off private insurance

By 2021, ACA says insurance must pay for expensive HIV drugs

BIDEN: Under the Affordable Care Act, there is a provision that by 2021, it will be available to anyone who has insurance, and all will be eligible for insurance. It will be available and the insurance companies must pay for it.

My plan builds on ObamaCare; adding $740B for public option

BIDEN: I think we should have a debate on health care. I think Obamacare worked. I think the way we add to it, replace everything that has been cut, add a public option, guarantee that everyone will be able to have affordable insurance, number one. Number two, I think we should look at cost. My plan costs $740 billion. It doesn't cost $30 trillion, $3.4 trillion a year, it turns out, is twice what the entire federal budget is. How are we going to pay for it? Thus far, Senator Warren has not indicated how she pays for it.

Sen. Elizabeth WARREN: Pres. Obama transformed health care. Now, how best can we improve it? I believe the best way we can do that is we make sure everybody gets covered by health care at the lowest possible cost. How do we pay for it? Those at the very top, the richest individuals and the biggest corporations, are going to pay more. And middle class families are going to pay less.

Public option under ObamaCare covers vast majority for $750B

NYC Mayor Bill DE BLASIO: I don't know what the vice president is talking about. There's this mythology that folks are in love with their insurance in America. The folks I talk to say that their health insurance isn't working for them.

BIDEN: ObamaCare is working. The way to get to [ten million uninsured Americans] immediately is to build on ObamaCare. Take back all the things that Trump took away, provide a public option, meaning every single person in America would be able to buy into that option if they didn't like their employer plan, or if they're on Medicaid, they'd automatically be in the plan. It would take place immediately. It would move quickly. And it would insure the vast, vast, vast majority of Americans. In the meantime, what happens? Did anybody tell you how much their plans cost? My plan costs $750 billion. [Medicare-for-All costs] $30 trillion.

Biden plan has public option; thinking otherwise is malarkey

Would bring back the individual mandate

Q: Would you bring back the individual mandate?

BIDEN: Yes. Yes, I would bring back the individual mandate.

Q: You think that will be popular?

BIDEN: Well, it's not -- yes, now it would be, compared to what's being offered.

Build on ObamaCare, with Medicare buy-in

Expand ObamaCare, but not Medicare-for-All

Those near doughnut hole you get $600 more for Rx benefits

RYAN: Give younger people, when they become Medicare-eligible, guaranteed coverage options that you can't be denied, including traditional Medicare. Choose your plan, and then Medicare subsidizes your premiums.

BIDEN: It's a voucher. Now they got a new plan: "Trust me, it's not going to cost you any more." Folks, follow your instincts on this one. What we did is we saved $716 billion and applied it to Medicare. We cut the cost of Medicare. We stopped overpaying insurance companies. And it extends the life of Medicare to 2024. They want to wipe this all out. It also gave more benefits. Any senior out there, ask yourself: Do you have more benefits today? You do. If you're near the doughnut hole, you have $600 more to help your prescription drug costs. You get wellness visits without copays. They wipe all of this out, and Medicare becomes insolvent in 2016.

Medicare gives seniors choice, even if Rx prices negotiated

RYAN: And it would deny seniors choices.

BIDEN: All you seniors out there, have you been denied choices? Have you lost Medicare Advantage?

RYAN: Because it's working well right now.

BIDEN: Because we changed the law!

Q: Why not very slowly raise the Medicare eligibility age by two years, as Congressman Ryan suggests?

BIDEN: I was there when we did that with Social Security, in 1983. We made the system solvent to 2033. We will not, though, be part of any voucher [that says] when you're 65, go out there, shop for the best insurance you can get; you're out of Medicare. This voucher will not keep pace with health care costs, because if it did keep pace with health care costs, there would be no savings.

RYAN: A voucher is you go to your mailbox, get a check and buy something. Nobody's proposing that.

ObamaCare built on the best of our private insurance system

Insurance mandate is same debate as for Social Security

Start paying for universal coverage with $100B in redundancy

A: Yes, I do.

Q: How would you pay for it?

A: I would pay for it by three ways. 1) I start off dealing with going into a prevention-and-treatment mode here that required us to simplify and modernize the system. That could save $100 billion a year in redundancy that goes on right now. 2) I would immediately provide for catastrophic health insurance for all Americans, and I'd immediately move for insuring every single child in America. That would cost less than what the top 1% tax break costs, $85 billion a year. 3) Then what I would do is I would move to insuring everyone through one of two vehicles. Either a system we work out among the stakeholders, an agreement that everyone essentially gets Medicare from the time you're born or a system whereby everyone can buy into the federal system. Those who don't have the means to buy in, then you subsidize them into the system. I would pay for that by direct revenues.

I've ordered more anti-virus pills than anyone in history

Here are four common sense steps as we move forward safely [to move past the coronavirus pandemic]:
• First, stay protected with vaccines and treatments. We're also ready with anti-viral treatments. If you get COVID-19, the Pfizer pill reduces your chances of ending up in the hospital by 90%. We've ordered more of these pills than anyone in the world. And Pfizer is working overtime to get us 1 million pills this month and more than double that next month. And we're launching the "Test to Treat" initiative so people can get tested at a pharmacy, and if they're positive, receive antiviral pills on the spot at no cost.
• Second--we must prepare for new variants.
• Third--we can end the shutdown of schools and businesses. We have the tools we need.
• Fourth, we will continue vaccinating the world. We've sent 475 Million vaccine doses to 112 countries, more than any other nation. And we won't stop.

Get more people vaccinated, or prolong coronavirus pandemic

Vaccination requirements are good for the economy. They not only increase vaccination rates but they help send people back to work--as many as 5 million American workers. They make our economy more resilient and keep our businesses open. [See H.R. 6304 for Congressional response]

Made 100M vaccination goal, but not 70% goal

PROMISE KEPT: (NBC News, March 18, 2021): Biden said he was poised to meet his goal of administering 100 million Covid-19 vaccination shots in his first 100 days more than 40 days ahead of schedule. "I am proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into my administration, we will have met our goal," Biden said in a speech at the White House.

ANALYSIS: Biden subsequently made and then walked back a goal of 150 million shots, a goal that is expected to be met as well. Biden then proposed 70% vaccination rate by July 4th; the US reached 67% on July 4 and reached 70% several weeks later.

$119 billion to build public confidence in vaccines

PROMISE KEPT: (CNN 3/6/21): The [stimulus bills] provide $14 billion to research, develop, distribute, administer and strengthen confidence in vaccines. They would also put $47.8 billion toward testing, contact tracing and mitigation, including investing in laboratory capacity, community-based testing sites and mobile testing units. Both chambers would also allocate $7.7 billion to hire 100,000 public health workers to support coronavirus response. The legislation also provide $50 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with some of the funds going toward expanding vaccination efforts.

$8.5 billion for rural hospitals, for telehealth & COVID

PROMISE KEPT: (CNN 3/6/21): The Senate bill allocates $8.5 billion to help struggling rural hospitals and health care providers.

White House Press Release: (8/13/2021): [The $8.5B will go towards]:

• Helping health care providers in rural areas cover costs associated with COVID-19 and keep their doors open.
• Expanding rural hospitals' access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and supplies.
• Training new rural health care providers, including community health workers, and expanding telehealth.
• Expanding access to pulmonary rehabilitation services.
• Expanding Veterans Affairs training programs for rural providers.
  Source: CNN "Senate stimulus" analysis of 2021 Biden Promises , Mar 6, 2021

  Mandate COVID masks in all federal buildings

  PROMISE MADE: (WPTV-5 coverage of NBC News Town Hall, 10/6/20): On coronavirus: "As president of the United States, I would make a federal mandate on federal property buildings; you must wear a mask. Period. And you must socially distance," Biden said.

  PROMISE KEPT: (Executive Order on Mask-Wearing, 1/20/21): The heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall immediately take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to require compliance with CDC guidelines with respect to wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, & other public health measures by: on-duty or on-site Federal employees; on-site Federal contractors; and all persons in Federal buildings or on Federal lands.

  OnTheIssues ANALYSIS: "Mask mandates" are a core political issue at the state level: whether to mandate masks for state employees (as Biden has done for federal employees), versus for the public at-large (which Biden has not done).

  Source: White House press release on Biden Promises , Jan 20, 2021

  If we just all wore masks, we'd save 100,000 lives

  Q: How would you lead the country out of the coronavirus crisis?

  BIDEN: 220,000 Americans dead. You hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this. The expectation is we'll have another 200,000 Americans dead between now & the end of the year. If we just wore these masks, we can save a 100,000 lives. And we're in a circumstance where the president has no comprehensive plan. What I would do is make sure we have everyone encouraged to wear a mask all the time. I would make sure we invest in rapid testing. I would make sure that we set up national standards as to how to open up schools and open up businesses so they can be safe and give them the wherewithal, the financial resources to be able to do that. Folks, I will take care of this. I will end this. I will make sure we have a plan.

  Q: [to TRUMP]: You said a vaccine will be coming within weeks. Is that a guarantee?

  TRUMP: No, it's not a guarantee, but it will be by the end of the year. I think it has a good chance.

  Source: Third 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Kristen Welker , Oct 22, 2020

  A dark winter pandemic: People are learning to die with it

  Q: The CDC has said young people can get sick with COVID-19 and can pass it.

  TRUMP: 99.9% of young people recover. We have to recover. We can't close up our nation. We have to open our schools and we can't close up our nation, or you're not going to have a nation.

  BIDEN: We're about to go into a dark winter, and he has no clear plan. He says that we're learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. You folks home will have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning. That man or wife going to bed tonight and reaching over to try to touch, there out of habit, where their wife or husband was, is gone. Learning to live with it. Come on. We're dying with it, because he's never said. See, you said, "It's dangerous." When's the last time? Is it really dangerous still? Are we dangerous. You tell the people it's dangerous now. What should they do about the danger? And you say, "I take no responsibility."

  Source: Third 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Kristen Welker , Oct 22, 2020

  Re-open businesses, restaurants, & schools with COVID safety

  TRUMP: We can't close up our nation. We have to open our schools and we can't close up our nation, or you're not going to have a nation.

  Q: What do you say to Americans who are fearful that the cost of shutdowns, the impact on the economy outweighs the risk of exposure to the virus?

  BIDEN: What I would say is, I'm going to shut down the virus, not the country. It's [President Trump's] ineptitude that caused the country to have to shut down in large part, why businesses have gone under, why schools are closed.

  Q: But you haven't ruled out more shut downs?

  BIDEN: I'm not shutting down today, but you need standards. If you have a community that's above a certain level, everybody says, "Slow up. More social distancing. Do not open bars and do not open gymnasiums." But when you do open, give the people the capacity to open safely. For example, schools. They need a lot of money to be open. They need to deal with ventilation systems. They need to deal with smaller classes, more teachers.

  Source: Third 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Kristen Welker , Oct 22, 2020

  I wanted to keep people in China in early 2020 pandemic

  Q: When this country first became aware of COVID-19, what would you8 have done in terms of actual policy?

  BIDEN: I suggested that we should be seeking access to the source of the problem. Trump never pushed that.

  Q [to TRUMP]: Why did you only put in place a travel ban from China?

  TRUMP: I put it in very early. Joe Biden was two months behind me, and he called me xenophobic and racist.

  BIDEN: All the way back in the beginning of February, I argued that we should be keeping people in China. There were 44 people on the ground [in China]. All those 44 people came home [as US citizens despite the ban on non-citizens]. In addition to that, I pointed out that I thought in February, I did a piece for USA Today saying, "This is a serious problem." Trump denied it. He said it wasn't. He missed enormous opportunities and kept saying things that weren't true. "It's going to go away by Easter"; "When the summer comes, it's all going to go away like a miracle." He's still saying those things.

  Source: Second 2020 Presidential Debate/ABC Town Hall Philadelphia , Oct 15, 2020

  Trump left rules to states; I want national standards

  Q: What about wearing masks to protect against coronavirus

  BIDEN: At a time when the science was saying, and his key people, Dr. Fauci were saying, "You should be taking these precautions."

  TRUMP: Dr. Fauci said, "Don't wear a mask," right? Then he changed his mind.

  BIDEN: Look, you and I know, the words of a president matter. No matter whether they're good, bad, or indifferent, they matter. And when a president doesn't wear a mask or makes fun of folks like me, when I was wearing a mask for a long time, then people say, "Well, it mustn't be that important." There should be a national standard. Remember what the president said to the governors, "Well, they're on their own; it's not my responsibility. The governors can do what they need to do." It is a presidential responsibility to lead, and he didn't do that. He didn't talk about what needed to be done because he kept worrying, in my view, about the stock market. His barometer of success to the economy is the market.

  Source: Second 2020 Presidential Debate/ABC Town Hall Philadelphia , Oct 15, 2020

  Depending on vaccine, think about making it mandatory

  Q: Will you mandate the coronavirus vaccine?

  BIDEN: It depends on the state of the nature of the vaccine when it comes out, and how it's being distributed. But I would think that we should be talking about, depending on the continuation of the spread of the virus, we should be thinking about making it mandatory.

  Q [to TRUMP]: You have been having rallies despite being exposed?

  TRUMP: As President, I have to be out there. I can't be in a basement. I want to see everybody. And I also say to people all the time, it's risky doing it. [But the White House tests everyone regularly].

  BIDEN: Before I came up here, I took another test. I've been taking them every day. If I had not passed that test, I didn't want to come here and expose anybody. And I just think it's just decency, to be able to determine whether or not you're clear. I'm less concerned about me, than the people working in the Secret Service and the camera staff.

  Source: Second 2020 Presidential Debate/ABC Town Hall Philadelphia , Oct 15, 2020

  COVID: Would mandate mask use in federal buildings

  On coronavirus: "As president of the United States, I would make a federal mandate on federal property buildings; you must wear a mask. Period. And you must socially distance -- No. 1. No. 2, I would make sure we move very rapidly to get testing available to everyone," Biden said. Source: WPTV-5 West Palm TV coverage of 2020 NBC News Town Hall , Oct 6, 2020

  COVID: maskless people responsible for their actions

  On coronavirus: "Look, anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying, 'masks don't matter, social distancing doesn't matter'--I think is responsible for what happens to them," Biden said. "They're taking responsibility that, in fact, they should be held responsible for, because every major scientist and doctor and immunologist has said that's a very dangerous thing to do. The particles and droplets can stay in the air for a long time, longer than they thought." Source: CNBC coverage of 2020 NBC News Town Hall , Oct 5, 2020

  We didn't shut down economy; Trump shut down his economy

  BIDEN: We didn't shut down the economy [for coronavirus]. This is his economy he shut down. The reason it's shut down is because, look, you folks at home. How many of you got up this morning and had an empty chair at the kitchen table because someone died of COVID? How many of you are in a situation where you lost your mom or dad and you couldn't even speak to them, you had a nurse holding a phone up so you could in fact say goodbye?

  TRUMP: We would have lost far more people, far more people.

  BIDEN: His own CDC Director says we could lose as many as another 200,000 people between now and the end of the year. And he said, if we just wear a mask, we can save half those numbers. Just a mask.

  Source: First 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Chris Wallace , Sep 29, 2020

  Wearing masks saves lives; social distancing is responsible

  BIDEN: Masks make a big difference. His own head of the CDC said if everybody wore a mask and social distanced between now and January, we'd probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters.

  TRUMP: And they've also said the opposite.

  BIDEN: No serious person has said the opposite.

  TRUMP: Dr. Fauci said the opposite.

  BIDEN: He did not say the opposite.

  TRUMP: He said very strongly, "Masks are not good." Then he changed his mind. He said, "Masks are good."

  BIDEN: He's been totally irresponsible the way in which he has handled the social distancing and people wearing masks, basically encouraged them not to. He's a fool on this.

  Source: First 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Chris Wallace , Sep 29, 2020

  Protect workers and schools from COVID with funding & PPE

  Q: What plan do you have to keep us from contracting COVID-19 virus in our workplace?

  BIDEN: We should have national standards laid so people can go to work safely. That requires us to have rapid testing, the protective gear, some Federal funding, particularly kids going back to school, making sure there's testing and tracing. There's a whole range of things we should have done. The President disregarded it. So there's a lot of empty chairs, and it's got to stop.

  Q: Could you see a scenario where you downplayed critical information so as not to cause panic?

  BIDEN: Not at all. If he had just acted one month, one week earlier, he would have saved 37,000 lives. But he knew it. He knew it and did nothing. It is close to criminal.

  Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper , Sep 17, 2020

  Wearing a mask is a patriotic requirement, not slavery

  Q: Barr said lockdowns were the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in U.S. history other than slavery.

  BIDEN: Wearing this mask is about making sure no one else gets sick. It's not to protect you so much is to make sure you don't infect someone else. I call that a patriotic requirement. Did you ever think you'd hear an Attorney General say that following the recommendations of the scientific community to save lives is equivalent to slavery. You lost freedom because you didn't act. Freedom to go to that ball game, the freedom of your kid to go to school, the freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital.

  Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper , Sep 17, 2020

  Supports national mask mandate

  [In his ABC Town Hall interview, president Trump was asked about a national mask mandate; then Joe Biden responded by Twitter]:

  TRUMP: They said at the Democrat convention they're going to do a national mandate. They never did it, because they've checked out and they didn't do it. And a good question is, you ask why Joe Biden--they said we're going to do a national mandate on masks. But he didn't do it. He never did it.

  BIDEN (on Twitter): "To be clear: I am not currently president."

  Source: Daily Beast/Twitter posting on ABC This Week 2020 Town Hall , Sep 15, 2020

  Coronavirus: Listen to science; step out of the way

  Q: Do you blame President Trump for lives lost?

  BIDEN: I don't blame him for the COVID crisis. I blame him for walking away and not dealing with the solutions. Columbia University Medical School said if he had acted just one week earlier, he would have saved over 37,000 lives, 37,000 fewer people would have not passed away. Two weeks earlier over 50,000 people. This is about telling the American people the truth, letting the scientists speak, listening to the science and stepping out of the way.

  Source: ABC This Week 2020 National Convention David Muir Q&A , Aug 23, 2020

  Trump's looking for coronavirus miracle; no miracle coming

  Biden said, "Just judge this president on the facts. Five million Americans infected by COVID-19. More than 170,000 Americans have died. By far the worst performance of any nation on earth." Biden said the president had been "looking for a miracle" when he could have helped stem the tide of the virus. "The tragedy that we face today is that it didn't have to be this bad. The president keeps waiting around, looking for a miracle. Well, I have news for him: Mr. President, no miracle is coming." Source: B.Shepherd on Yahoo.com: 2020 Democratic National Convention , Aug 21, 2020

  I'll do what we should've done from beginning of coronavirus

  We'll develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately. We'll make the medical supplies and protective equipment our country needs. We'll make sure our schools have the resources they need to be open, safe, and effective. We'll take the muzzle off our experts so the public gets the information they need and deserve. We'll have a national mandate to wear a mask--not as a burden, but to protect each other. In short, I will do what we should have done from the very beginning

  If this president is reelected we know what will happen. The assault on the Affordable Care Act will continue until it's destroyed, taking insurance away from more than 20 million people--including more than 15 million people on Medicaid--and getting rid of the protections that President Obama and I passed for people who suffer from a preexisting condition.

  Source: Acceptance speech at 2020 Democratic National Convention , Aug 20, 2020

  Coronavirus: Deal with health crisis before economic crisis

  Q: President Trump has said that he wants the country or at least parts opened up as early as Easter?

  BIDEN: Medical experts indicate to me that it's more likely to be sometime into June, before we'd be in that position. But nobody knows for certain. What we do know is that it's a false choice to make, saying that either open the economy or everything goes to hell, or, in fact, you take care of the medical side. You cannot make this economy grow until you deal with the virus and that curve. You can't deal with the economic crisis until you deal with the health care crisis.

  Q: When our savings account inevitably runs out due to him not being able to work right now, what is it that we sacrifice?

  BIDEN: You should not have to sacrifice anything, not just because it's the fair thing for you be taken care of. You should not have to pay a penny for testing. You will be covered. Anything related to the cost of the coronavirus health care should be free, paid for out of the federal funds.

  Source: CNN S.C. Town Hall amid 2020 primaries , Mar 27, 2020

  Coronavirus national rally: care; testing; hospital capacity

  [On the coronavirus pandemic], my heart goes out to those who have already lost someone, or those who are suffering from the virus, and this is bigger than any one of us. This calls for a national rallying to everybody move together. There are three pieces of this.
  1. We have to take care of those who are exposed, or are likely to be exposed to the virus, and that means we have to get the testing kits up & ready. I'd take advantage of the test kits the World Health Organization have available. I would make sure that every state had at least 10 places where they had drive-through testing arrangements.
  2. We have to deal with the economic fallout quickly, and that means making sure that people who lose their job, can't pay their mortgage, are able to pay it.
  3. I would also at this point deal with the need to begin to plan for the need for additional hospital beds. We have that capacity with FEMA: they can set up 100-bed, 500-bed hospitals and tents quickly.
  Source: 11th Democratic primary debate (Biden-Sanders one-on-one) , Mar 15, 2020

  Accept coronavirus test kits from World Health Organization

  Q: President Trump says problems with coronavirus testing stem from inheriting so many rules & regulations. Did bureaucratic red tape hamper this response in any way?

  Biden: No. The World Health Organization offered the [coronavirus] testing kits that they have available and to give it to us now. We refused them. We did not want to buy them. We did not want to get them from them. We wanted to make sure we had our own. [Trump] said something like, "We have the best scientists in America," or something to that effect. We are not prepared for this. I agree with Bernie, we're in a situation where we have to now be providing for the hospitals that are going to be needed, needed now.

  Sen. Bernie Sanders: This is a time for all of us working together. The World Health Organization is a very, very strong organization. It is sad that we have a President that has ignored the international community in so many ways, including in terms of international health crisis.

  Source: 11th Democratic primary debate (Biden-Sanders one-on-one) , Mar 15, 2020

  We've handled pandemics before, present system not ready

  The present system cannot handle the surge that is likely to come, so we should already be sitting down and planning where we're going to put these temporary hospitals. We've been through this before with dealing with the viruses that the H1N1 as well as what happened in Africa. We provided these hospitals dealing with these great pandemics, and were able to do it quickly, but we also have to provide the equipment to protect the first responders, and that's not being done either.

  With all due respect to Medicare for all, you have a single-payer system in Italy. It doesn't work there. It has nothing to do with Medicare for all. That would not solve the problem at all. We can take care of that right now by making sure that no one has to pay for treatment, period, because of the crisis. No one has to pay for whatever drugs are needed, period. No one has to pay for hospitalization. period. That is a national emergency, and that's how it's handled.

  Source: 11th Democratic primary debate (Biden-Sanders one-on-one) , Mar 15, 2020

  Coronavirus: Let the scientists speak; let them prepare us

  Let the scientists speak. Let them tell us what is going on. Let them prepare us. Let them prepare the country. Let them be the ones explaining how they're going to provide the protective gear for hospitals that are intake hospitals. I would have not have dismantled the organization we had put in place in the first place. I would have made sure we had American scientists in China insisting we know what is happening in China and I would be doing the same thing in Europe where it is now spread. Source: CNN "State of the Union" on 2020 Presidential hopefuls , Mar 1, 2020

  We invested in health agencies and kept Ebola out of the US

  Q: We just heard from President Trump tonight, addressing the administration's response to the coronavirus. If you were president, what would you be doing?

  BIDEN: We've been through this once. We've been through this with the virus that occurred with Ebola in Africa. I was deeply involved on that. We were able to keep the disease overseas. The few that came to the United States, we were able to put together the following: We set up an office within the president's office to deal with infectious diseases, number one. Number two, we significantly increased the funding for NIH, National Institute of Health, as well as the CDC, to immediately begin to work on vaccines, which worked. We moved. Thirdly, what we did was we made sure that we were able to be honest with the American people, so that we had complete unity between the scientists and the president.

  Source: CNN S. C. Town Hall for 2020 Presidential primary , Feb 26, 2020

  Insist that China let our experts inspect for coronavirus

  Q: What would you be doing differently than Trump on coronavirus?

  BIDEN: I think it's important that we understand that you have to have a president in charge. What I would do were I president now, I would not be taking China's word for it. I would insist that China allow our scientists in to make a hard determination of how it started, where it's from, how far along it is. Because that is not happening now. And we should be allowed to do that and they should want us to do that, because we have genuine experts who know how to confront these things. But we need to invest [in science agencies] immediately. We should have done it from the beginning, the moment the virus appeared. But we're getting late, but we've got good scientists. And I just hope the president gets on the same page as the scientists.

  Source: CNN S. C. Town Hall for 2020 Presidential primary , Feb 26, 2020

  Work with China, in China, on coronavirus

  Q: What would you do about coronavirus?

  BIDEN: What we did with Ebola--I was part of making sure that pandemic did not get to the United States, saved millions of lives. And what we did, we set up, I helped set up that office on pandemic diseases. We increased the budget of the CDC. We increased the NIH budget. And our president today--and he's wiped all that out. [With Ebola], we did it; we stopped it.

  Q: So, more funding?

  BIDEN: I would immediately restore the funding. [Trump] cut the funding for CDC. He tried to cut the funding for NIH. He cut the funding for the entire effort. And here's the deal. I would be on the phone with China and making it clear, we are going to need to be in your country; you have to be open; you have to be clear; we have to know what's going on; we have to be there with you, and insist on it and insist, insist, insist. I could get that done. No one up here has ever dealt internationally with any of these world leaders. I'm the only one that has.

  Source: 10th Democratic Primary debate on eve of S.C. primary , Feb 25, 2020

  Got tested for AIDS after blood transfusion; no shame in it

  Q: African-Americans, though 17% of all American teenagers, are 69% of the population of teenagers diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. What is the plan to protect these young people from this scourge?

  BIDEN: You're asking, how do we prevent these 17-year-olds from getting HIV? All the things that were said here [by the other candidates] are good ideas; but they don't prevent that. There's neglect on the part of the medical and the white community focusing on educating the minority community out there. I spent last summer going through the black sections of my town, trying to get black men to understand it is not unmanly to wear a condom, getting women to understand they can say no, getting people in the position where testing matters. I got tested for AIDS. I know Barack got tested for AIDS. There's no shame in being tested for AIDS.

  OBAMA: I got tested with my wife Michelle, in public, when we were in Kenya.

  BIDEN: And I got tested to save my life, because I had 13 pints of blood transfusion.

  Source: 2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University , Jun 28, 2007

  Rated 100% by APHA, indicating a pro-public health record.

  Biden scores 100% by APHA on health issues

  The American Public Health Association (APHA) is the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world, representing more than 50,000 members from over 50 occupations of public health. APHA is concerned with a broad set of issues affecting personal and environmental health, including federal and state funding for health programs, pollution control, programs and policies related to chronic and infectious diseases, a smoke-free society, and professional education in public health.

  The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization`s preferred position.

  Source: APHA website 03n-APHA on Dec 31, 2003

  Establish a national childhood cancer database.

  Biden co-sponsored establishing a national childhood cancer database

  Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2007 - A bill to advance medical research and treatments into pediatric cancers, ensure patients and families have access to the current treatments and information regarding pediatric cancers, establish a population-based national childhood cancer database, and promote public awareness of pediatric cancers.

  Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to childhood cancer professional and direct service organizations for the expansion and widespread implementation of:
  1. activities that provide information on treatment protocols to ensure early access to the best available therapies and clinical trials for pediatric cancers;
  2. activities that provide available information on the late effects of pediatric cancer treatment to ensure access to necessary long-term medical and psychological care; and
  3. direct resource services such as educational outreach for parents, information on school reentry and postsecondary education, and resource directories or referral services for financial assistance, psychological counseling, and other support services.
  Legislative Outcome: House version H.R.1553; became Public Law 110-285 on 7/29/2008. Source: Conquer Childhood Cancer Act (S911/HR1553) 07-S911 on Mar 19, 2007

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