In NC, Biden and Harris talk health care and lowering prescription drug prices

RALEIGH, N.C. — In Raleigh on Tuesday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both called health care a right and contrasted their administration’s vision for affordable and accessible health care with congressional Republicans’ latest budget plan.

Biden said they came back to North Carolina to celebrate the Affordable Care Act passed under President Barack Obama and “to remind all of us that we can’t take anything for granted.”

Biden talked about “beating Big Pharma” through the Inflation Reduction Act, and how he wants to expand the prescription price cap on insulin — which people with Type 1 diabetes need to live — beyond an exiting price cap for seniors.

The president also said that he and Harris want to restore full access to abortion, which many states have limited after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision as “the law of the land.”

“I see a future with health care as a right, and we restore the freedom to choose and protect the freedoms, not take them away,” Biden said.

Biden and Harris arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Tuesday afternoon via Air Force One and Air Force Two, then headed to John Chavis Memorial Park and Community Center in Raleigh on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams and Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley greeted Biden. The president was accompanied by Gov. Roy Cooper, who had been in Washington on Monday to speak at an event.

John Chavis Memorial Park’s walking track, fields, playground and community center were closed to the public for the event. Several downtown Raleigh streets were also closed.

Biden’s speech began later than expected, as he departed D.C. later than planned to give an update on the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Harris began her remarks talking about supporting the people of Maryland and those who are missing and also rebuilding the bridge.

Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running for governor, and Cooper spoke at the start of the event. Cooper touted this state expanding Medicaid this past year, which took effect about four months ago.

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