On his first day in office, President Biden announced a Regulatory Freeze Pending Review through a press release sent by his chief of staff Ron Klain. The announcement, sent to all federal agencies, froze all new regulations signed by President Trump during the waning days of his term, impacting new regulations that had not yet gone into effect. The freeze will last 60 days until the new administration can review them.
HHS finalized the rule in late December. But in publishing that final rule, HHS acknowledged “the economic impact is expected to be minimal” since the vast majority of patients who get insulin from community health centers already get discounted medication. In some cases, those patients receive a one-month supply of insulin for just $7, according to the report published in the Federal Register.
And the National Association of Community Health Centers confirmed that its member health centers already pass along their deeply discounted drug prices to the low-income families they serve.
“Their whole mission for 55 years has been to provide low-cost prescriptions and services to low-income families,” said NACHC vice president of media relations Amy Simmons Farber, who also said community health centers opposed the Trump administration plan. “The executive order was a slap in the face because we were already a low-cost alternative to high prescription drug prices. The executive order just created massive red tape. It’s not a good rule.”
So it has been verified that the Biden administration did freeze a new rule that would mandate community health centers pass along insulin discounts to their patients.
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