Non-COVID Highlights From Biden’s State of the Union Address

March 2, 2022 – Beyond COVID-19, President Joe Biden on Tuesday hit on a number of different well being care priorities in his first State of the Union, together with a warning that the administration would scrutinize personal investor possession of nursing properties and that Medicare was going to “set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and expect.”

Biden, in his deal with to a joint session of Congress, additionally pledged to guard entry to well being care, to protect a “woman’s right to choose,” to advance maternal well being care, and to guard youthful transgender Americans, calling a spate of state legal guidelines concentrating on them “wrong.”

The president additionally stated he was doubling down on the Cancer Moonshot program’s promise “to end cancer as we know it,” asking Congress to fund his proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which might be tasked with discovering breakthroughs associated to most cancers, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and different ailments.

What’s extra, Biden stated he plans to behave to “get rid of outdated rules that stop doctors from prescribing treatments” for opioid habit.

“I believe in recovery, and I celebrate the 23 million Americans in recovery,” he stated.

The State of the Union deal with got here after the administration earlier within the day introduced a brand new effort to enhance Americans’ psychological well being, and stated the White House would work with Congress to broaden telehealth and combine psychological well being with major care. Biden’s fiscal 2023 finances, which might take impact Oct. 1, will double funding for major and behavioral well being integration applications.

Acknowledging State of the Union visitor Frances Haugen, a former Facebook worker who uncovered the corporate’s algorithms concentrating on youngsters, Biden stated, “We must hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.”

“It’s time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children,” he stated.

In response to this a part of the president’s deal with, American Academy of Pediatrics President Moira Szilagyi, MD, stated in a press release that the group was joyful the administration was proposing to “protect the digital privacy and well-being of children and adolescents.”

Last fall, the AAP made a nationwide emergency declaration on youngsters’s psychological well being as a result of the pandemic worsened psychological well being points. Szilagyi stated the AAP “welcomes tonight’s recognition of children’s mental health as a national priority and looks forward to what comes next.”

The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association additionally applauded Biden’s psychological well being proposals, particularly for elevating youngsters’s wants.

“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on mental health, especially for school-aged children and for communities that have been historically marginalized or minoritized,” AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, MD, stated in a press release.

But the star of the night gave the impression to be Joshua Davis, a seventh grader with sort 1 diabetes who beamed from the primary girl’s field as Biden spoke.

“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,” the president stated through the deal with.

“Drug companies will still do very well,” he stated, noting that Medicare ought to be allowed to barter decrease costs for prescribed drugs.

The insulin cap proposal — just for these with personal insurance coverage — is contained in Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which has been stymied within the Senate.

The Endocrine Society praised Biden for saying he’ll tackle drug prices, significantly insulin.

In a press release, the society famous that greater than 37 million Americans have diabetes, with 3 million beginning on insulin inside a 12 months of being recognized.

Those with sort 1 depend on insulin to outlive, the society stated.

“We urge Congress to come together and pass legislation to make insulin affordable as soon as possible,” stated the assertion.