On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking dozens of the Biden administration’s executive orders. That included several executive orders targeting healthcare costs.
Multiple viral posts on social media claim that Trump has cancelled the monthly $35 cap on insulin, which became standard for all Medicare enrollees in 2023. VERIFY readers Laurie and DJ emailed us to ask if the claims are true.
THE QUESTION
Did President Trump get rid of Medicare’s $35 insulin cap?
THE SOURCES
- Inflation Reduction Act
- Eli Lilly
- Trump executive order “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions”
- Biden executive orders 14009, 14070 and 14087
- American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC)
THE ANSWER
No, President Trump did not get rid of Medicare’s $35 insulin cap.
WHAT WE FOUND
As of Jan. 23, 2025, Trump has not gotten rid of Medicare’s $35 cap on insulin prices, nor has he changed the $35 cap on out-of-pocket costs for some insulin products sold to Americans not on Medicare.
Medicare’s $35 insulin price cap was signed into law through the Inflation Reduction Act, which means it would take another law passed by Congress to change or get rid of the price cap.
In 2023, insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly voluntarily capped out-of-pocket costs for its insulin at $35 at participating pharmacies for people with commercial insurance. It also created a savings card for people without insurance to get its insulin for $35 per month.
The false claims likely stem from confusion over Trump’s numerous executive orders on Jan. 20, one of which revoked several Biden healthcare initiatives.
One of those orders directed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to test strategies to potentially reduce prescription drug costs for people on Medicare and Medicaid. Those tests hadn’t started yet, so there are no immediate changes to out-of-pocket costs for those people.
The other two orders expanded the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period and provided more Medicaid outreach funding to states.
During his first term, Trump did establish a voluntary, time-limited model capping insulin costs at $35 per month for people on participating Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. KFF, a health policy organization, says this version of the cap was available to fewer insulin users than the current version.
In addition to the $35 monthly cap on insulin, other healthcare affordability initiatives such as a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs and Medicare’s authority to negotiate drug prices remain untouched by Trump, according to the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC).