Fellow Netizens,
Happy Friday! Along with many of you, we have tuned in to watch President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. This annual event showcases our leadership’s point of view on the course our nation is heading towards. This article will focus on the aspects of the speech that touches on public health (as you all probably expect).
Four Key Takeaways
Reproductive Rights and Women’s Health: President Biden made some time on his address for reproductive health and placed it near the beginning of his address. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden had two guests who were referenced by the President: Kate Cox and Latorya Beasley. Kate Cox had to flee from her home state of Texas in order to receive abortion services due to life-threatening complications from her pregnancy. Latorya Beasley was one of many women whose in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments were abruptly halted after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling last month (read our article on this topic here). According to President Biden, he promises to restore Roe v. Wade as the “law of the land” should Congress flip from its current Republican majority to the Democrats. He also urged Congress to enshrine IVF as a protected medical service in order to prevent what occurred to Latorya, and many others like her, in Alabama. In addition, he promoted the White House’s federal initiative on women’s health research, which is headed by the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden.
Prices of Prescription Drugs: The President brought up lowering the cost of prescription drugs as part of his administration’s ongoing goal to reign in our nation’s expensive healthcare system. He referenced one of his big achievements: the Inflation Reduction Act that was signed into law in 2022. The law has provisions that allowed the federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices covered under Medicare. President Biden proposed to expand price control for more drugs and beyond the scope of Medicare coverage. His comments center on the fact that the United States pays the most for drugs compared to many developed nations, and many Americans have only seen an increase in their healthcare costs over time.
Obamacare/ Affordable Care Act: President Biden proposed to make premium tax credits for healthcare permanent, which is currently under place with the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). These tax credits, which are meant to help eligible families pay premiums for insurance plans bought from the Health Insurance Marketplace, are set to expire in 2025 (they were supposed to expire in 2022 but was extended with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act). President Biden also promises to continue to protect the Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by Republicans, who have an extensive track record of trying to do so but without success.
Gun Violence: In the First Lady’s box was Jazmin Cazares, an advocate for gun violence prevention who was personally affected by the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas with the loss of her sister. President Biden recalled his visits to Uvalde, where parents of the victims told him to “do something”. He touted the creation of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and urged Congress to ban assault weapons along with high capacity magazines. He also urged Congress to pass laws mandating universal background checks. Currently, it is unlikely that any laws will be passed by a Republican-led House whose ideology fervently supports the the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Summary
The State of the Union was fiery and passionate; President Biden clearly did not hold back on his detractors or on the pressing issues facing our nation. Public health issues were on the forefront of many of his talking points, from reproductive health to gun violence and controlling drug prices. Fellow Netizens, as the election season approaches, it is our responsibility to stay educated on the political issues at hand. There are much more topics to unpack (housing and climate change), but we will save those for future articles, so stay tuned!
Watch the full State of the Union Address Below:
Featured Image: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s own opinions and statements. They do not reflect the opinions or stances of any organization affiliated with the author.
