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Biden Details Plan To Lower Prescription Drug Costs; NYC To Require Vaccines For All Private-Sector Workers By Dec. 27; Kentucky Derby Winner Medina Spirit Dies After Workout; Trump Ally, David Perdue, Launches Primary Challenge Against GA Governor Brian Kemp; Backlash Against Rep. Massey After Christmas Card Featuring Guns; Ilhan Omar: Speaker Says Will Be Consequences For Boebert Remarks. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 06, 2021 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My Build Back Better bill takes three key steps to lower of the cost for families dealing with diabetes.

First, we're going to cap cost sharing of insulin at $35 per month. That means you can't get charged more than $35 at a pharmaceutical counter for your insulin. That is across the board.

Whether you get health insurance through your private policy, the Affordable Care Act marketplace or through Medicaid, nobody is going to pay more than $35 for each month for insulin.

Second, for people who don't have health insurance, we're helping you get insurance. That way people with diabetes could get protected with that $35 co-pay cap.

People are uninsured today could visit healthcare.gov to check out the options. In many cases, people could get a full health care plan, including coverage for insulin and other prescription drugs, doctor visits and hospitalizations for less than $10 a month if you sign up for the plan.

If you live in a state that has refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, my Build Back Better bill is going to fix that as well.

These changes will ensure access to affordable coverage for millions more Americans and help more people with diabetes get coverage they desperately need.

Third, we're going to end the days when drug companies increase prices with no oversight or accountability. Going forward, they increase the prices faster than inflation, they are going to face a steep excite tax.

If you're saying to drug companies, if you're finally doing it because -- because to be accountable, when your prices to the American people go up, you're going to be accountable. This is important. I went from a health standpoint, from a standpoint

of personal dignity. Imagine if you're a parent, one of the roughly 200,000 young people in this country that suffer from type one diabetes. Imagine if you can't afford their insulin.

It is not only a risk to your child's life, but it also deprives of you your dignity. Just imagine, as a parent, having a child with type one diabetes and not a damn thing you can do about it making sure they have it. If so, you don't have the money to get it done.

Well, my plan addresses an additional fear patients face, which is that when their children are starting their careers and are no longer eligible on their parents' health care plan. they could get insulin that they need.

Outrageous cost effecting everyone across the board. Spending every kind of condition disease.

I remember what it was like when my mom -- for my mom when she got older and moved in with us. Her prescription drugs were thousands of dollars. On a monthly base.

Fortunately, I had three other siblings and we collectively had the means to chip in so she didn't have to exhaust all of her saving and sell whatever she had left to make sure she could get her drug costs covered.

So I'm committed, I'm committed to using every tool I have to lower prescription drug costs for Americans consistent with the drug companies getting a fair return on their investment.

To really solve this problem, we need the Senate to follow the House of Representatives' lead and pass my Build Back Better bill.

In addition to the specific progress that the Build Back Better bill will make for families facing diabetes, it will also take the additional step of lowering drug costs for people on Medicare.

Right now, the only thing Medicare is not allowed to negotiate and they could negotiate the cost of doctors' visits and hospital visited but they can't as a matter of law.

They are not allowed to negotiate the price for prescription drugs. For everything else, doctors' visits, crutches, they could negotiate. My plan gets rid of this prohibition.

What I'm proposing is that we negotiate a fair price, one that reflects the cost of research and development and the need for significant progress -- excuse me -- need for significant profit but that is still affordable for consumers.

Right now, drug prices will set the price at whatever the market will bear. My plan caps the amount of seniors on what they have to spend on prescription drugs each year to no more than $2,000 per year, with Medicaid and drug companies picking up the rest of the cost. And, again, our plan said that any drug company could only raise

prices based on the rate of inflation, and caps insulin cost sharing at $35 a month.

So let me close with this. I've long said health care should be a right not a privilege in this country.

And the women I've met with today and millions like them are the reason why. People for whom the cost of one drug is the difference between hope and fear, life and death, and dignity and dependence.

[14:35:09]

We're closer than ever to passing my Build Back Better build and providing people from suffering from diabetes the medicines they need and so many other diseases for the dignity they deserve to afford them.

This is not a partisan issue. Diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer, so many other diseases, they don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. It is not about whether or not your loved ones could afford a prescription drug you need.

So we need Congress to finish the job. To come together and make the difference in people's lives.

I want to thank both the guests here today for being so straightforward with me. We had a good conversation in the office before coming over here.

I admire you both. I admire you both.

And as my grand pop would say, with the grace of god and good will of the neighbors, we're going to get this done. So you don't have to worry every single day about what you could do.

God bless you all and God protect our troops.

Thank you so much.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) -- Mr. President?

BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, I couldn't hear his response. He was asked about will the Build Back Better plan be passed before Christmas. I couldn't quite hear his answer.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: What I heard was he said was, the earlier we get it done, the better for the American people. I'm paraphrasing here. But there's also one answer --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Just the one.

CAMEROTA: He said we're going to get it done however long he takes.

He was there to talk about the urgent need for lowering the cost of prescription drugs for people who are suffering.

I want whatever miracle drug he is using to get over a cold.

BLACKWELL: Robitussin.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: I've never seen a recovery like that. On Friday, as you'll recall, his voice was unrecognizable.

BLACKWELL: Froggy.

CAMEROTA: I think it was more than a frog.

BLACKWELL: Am I being generous?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BLACKWELL: OK.

CAMEROTA: And he seems to have recovered. He seems to have been doing better.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, New York City is taking a vaccine mandate one step further. It applying to the private sector. And we'll tell you when workers will need to be vaccinated, next.

BLACKWELL: And just into CNN, Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, has died suddenly after a workout. We have more details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:10]

CAMEROTA: Coronavirus cases are up across the country.

BLACKWELL: Demand for vaccinations, they're up, too.

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio is hoping to push his city's vaccination rate even higher, announcing a vaccine mandate for all private-sector employers.

CNN's Jason Carroll has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York City's mayor has made it official. Anyone working in the city will be subject to a vaccine mandate. The mayor announcing all private-sector employees much be vaccinated by December 27th. Public employees have been a vaccine mandate since October.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY): We've got to up the ante. We've got to encourage people even more to get that second dose. Because that's what gives you so much more protection.

CARROLL: In addition, beginning December 14th, children in New York City, ages 5 to 11, will be required to show proof of at least one shot before being allowed inside of restaurants, gyms or entertainment venues.

Also today, new nationwide restrictions are in place for international airline passengers arriving to the United States. Those travelers must test negative for COVID within 24 hours of departure. No test means passengers will be banned from their flight.

Until now, international travelers heading to the U.S. Had three days before their flight to show a negative test.

Meanwhile, Omicron cases have been reported in at least 16 states. The variant spreads quickly, showing that point it may not be as severe as the Delta variant, which continues to drive a surge in hospitalizations.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We really have to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or really doesn't cause any severe illness comparable to Delta.

But thus far, the signals are a bit discouraging regarding the severity.

CARROLL: Nationwide, cases of coronavirus are rising. For the first time in two months, the U.S., this weekend, averaged more than 100,000 new COVID 19 cases per day.

But an encouraging development on the booster front. A new unpublished study has found using the J&J vaccine as a booster for people initially immunized with the Pfizer vaccine, produced a strong immune response with patients.

This comes as CDC data show the pace of vaccinations is rising with an average of more than 2.2 million doses being administers daily.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, MEMBER, FDA VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: It is encouraging. We still have tens of millions of people who have chosen not to vaccinate their children. I came off a week of being on service. We admitted five children to the hospital yesterday.

CARROLL: So far, no hospitalizations needed for passengers and crew identified with COVID aboard a Norwegian cruise ship.

The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed at least 17 cases. Most were asymptomatic. Passengers and crew members needed a negative test before the cruise.

WAYNE WILLIS, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: The Captain came on and said we're going to test everybody. I couldn't believe how organized they were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And as for the New York City mandate, just like with public employees, there will not be a weekly testing option for private- sector employees either.

And that mandate will apply to businesses where more than one person is employed.

And in addition to that, a lot of business leaders here in the city said they were sort of taken by surprise by this new mandate announcement. They say they got no heads-up.

So a lot of upset people in the business community over there.

BLACKWELL: Three weeks until the deadline, December 27th.

Jason Carroll, thank you.

CARROLL: You be.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in professor of emergency medicine and associate dean of public health at Brown University, Dr. Megan Ranney.

Welcome back.

Let's start with the mandate in New York City. December 27th, fully vaccinated for private-sector workers.

By the 27th, should that be the two shots or should there also be that mandate for people who have been vaccinated since, let's say March or April, to get the booster? Would that be a better public health approach?

[14:45:08]

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE & ASSOCIATE DEAN OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERSITY: There are so many questions yet to be answered about the new policy, for it to be -- how it's going to be enforced, how will they manage it logistically?

And does this mean that everyone who has not yet gotten a single shot has to rush out today, which is what is needed if you're going to complete the Pfizer vaccines series, much less Moderna by that deadline.

It would be lovely to add in boosters for those who did complete their primary series more than six months ago. But remember, the CDCs that not yet said that a booster is a mandatory part of being fully immunized.

There's still data out that we're waiting for it. And the most important thing we could do is be vaccinated in the first place.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Ranney, I want to ask you about Omicron. I know we need to reserve all judgment about it. I know we don't have the data yet.

But if, as Dr. Fauci seems to suggest this weekend, it is possible that this variant is much more transmissible but much less severe than what we've seen before, isn't that the best-case scenario? I mean, that would help towards herd immunity without killing people.

RANNEY: I think it is far too early to say with any certainty what will happen with Omicron.

Remember, Delta variant is not more severe than the original COVID but it is more transmissible so it is filling up our hospitals.

So even if Omicron should be less severe than Delta, if it transmits two or three or four times more quickly, it is still going to hurt people.

I am waiting. I think that the scenario that you put forward would be an ideal one, something that transmits but doesn't hurt people. I'm not yet ready to say that is what we're going to see from Omicron.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this study that Jason mentioned that researchers found.

And 65 people in a small study. J&J boosters for people who received the first shots were Pfizer, so mRNA vaccine.

And they found that the boosting those with J&J produced a slower but more sustained antibody response. But boosting Pfizer was a quicker and stronger immune response that dropped off faster.

Is the former what you want, you want it to kind of go slow and be sustained, right?

RANNEY: Slow and steady wins the race, as I tell my kids all of the time. Yes, that is the ideal outcome.

This was a very small study. There was another one done by the NIH this year that suggested that Pfizer or Moderna was better than Johnson & Johnson.

At the end of the day, the takeaway is, get whatever booster you can. It doesn't matter that much which one you show up and get in your arm.

They all work to increase your antibody response and to reduce the risk of you developing any symptomatic disease much less severe disease, hospitalization or death, which are the dreaded outcomes that we're desperately trying to avoid.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Megan Ranney, thank you.

RANNEY: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, has died. The champion racehorse collapsed on the track in California this morning after a workout at the Santa Anita Racetrack.

His trainer, Bob Baffert, said this: "It is with great sadness that I'm reporting Medina Spirit passed away today from a heart attack at Santa Anita."

"My entire barn is devastated by the news. Medina Spirit was a great champion a member of our family who was loved by all. And we are deeply mourning his loss."

CAMEROTA: Let's bring in Nick Watt who is following the story.

Nick, this is sad. So we remember that Medina Spirit had experienced some controversy. So tell us how we got here.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Alisyn, this horse was a young much loved extraordinary racehorse. First race was just last year. Ten starts in all.

More than three and a half million dollars in earnings, one half of the races he ever entered, including the Kentucky Derby earlier this spring.

And that is where the controversy that you mentioned kicks in. After the race, Medina Spirit tested positive for something called Betamethasone.

Bob Baffert, the trainer, who is a huge figure in horse racing in this country, nearly 50-year career, super suave and very successful, he said this betamethasone was just in a skin ointment that they we were putting on the horse and it was not injected, we weren't breaking the rules.

And in fact, I just texted with his lawyer who said last week an independent analyst proves that they were right, they were not breaking the rules.

But the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission said that their investigation, they tell me, is still ongoing. So there's still a small cloud hanging over this racehorse. But it was a much-loved horse.

How this horse actually died? Well, Baffert said it was a heart attack. We've heard from the track this morning that say this was a probable cardiac arrest. We won't know until necropsy is carried out.

[14:50:08]

And that is standard procedure. You might remember, over the past couple of years, there has been a real spotlight on the horse racing because of the numbers of horses who have died on the track, either in training or in races. So we still don't know.

But the entire horse racing industry is mourning the loss of this extraordinary horse with a great future that it will now not see -- Guys?

CAMEROTA: Nick Watt, thanks for explaining all of that.

On to politics. It will be a Republican show down in Georgia. Former Senator David Perdue announcing he will challenge Governor Brian Kemp. And Donald Trump is already getting involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:26]

CAMEROTA: Former Georgia Senator David Perdue will run for governor against Brian Kemp, and he's already getting support from Donald Trump.

BLACKWELL: But not the full endorsement. Trump put out a statement. This is part of it:

"I can't imagine that Brian Kemp, who has hurt election integrity can do so badly, can do so badly at the balance box, unless the election is rigged, of course. He cost us two Senate seats and presidential victory in the great state of Georgia."

CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, joins us now.

Gloria, first, just for the record, President Trump lost the election, Brian Kemp didn't lose it for him.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: And telling Georgia Republicans not to trust the runoff probably cost those two seats in the Senate in large part.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: But as it relates to David Perdue getting into this race, why is he doing this? He backed Kemp as late as this summer.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I know. Look, he clearly wants to get back in politics, so he's on the Trump train.

I mean, you were reading my mind when you were talking about Donald Trump saying he lost us to, you know, the Senate seat.

Donald Trump lost Republicans, those Senate seats by depressing the vote in the state of Georgia by saying that his presidential election was rigged, and that, you know, this election was likely to be rigged, too.

So, you know, Donald Trump has no one to blame but himself.

I can't talk to you about Perdue's motivation, other than to say, well, he figures he'll be able to win the primary because he's got Donald Trump with him, even though has point out, it's not a full endorsement yet, but I assume that's coming.

CAMEROTA: Gloria, I want to ask you about Congressman Thomas Massey, Republican of Kentucky's weird Christmas message for America. BORGER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He and his family are seen holding guns, and these are not hunting rifles, may I add, and he's wishing everyone a merry Christmas with this.

I'm not sure that Congressman Massey understands Christ's message of nonviolence.

But I guess, even more timely, I mean, imagine if you're the families of the four students who were killed a few days before he posted that message?.

I mean, has he no sensitivity to the families of Parkland who have to relive the trauma every time something like this happens, the families now in Michigan.

I mean, what's he doing?

BORGER: You know, I can't get in his head either. I mean, today, he doubled down on the gun photo saying, I didn't realize it would be such an explosive cocktail when you put it together. But it adds up to freedom. That's what he said.

I don't understand that either. It is clearly not a message of peace on earth. And I don't know what other message he wanted to send.

But it's inappropriate, and it's disgraceful. And I have no idea what he was thinking but he's refusing to take it down off of Twitter. So.

CAMEROTA: And I just want to add one thing that his colleague in Kentucky, a different congressman, Congressman Yarmouth, is saying in response, which is, "I promise not everyone in Kentucky is an insensitive A-hole."

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: That speaks for itself. That tweet speaks for itself.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: What's important here, though, is that he has no -- I mean, this is a red district. So there's no consequence for him unless someone gets to his right, with that picture it's hard to see how that happens.

Let's turn you to Representative Ilhan Omar, who was on with Jake over the weekend saying you've got a promise from the speaker that there will be some consequence related to the Lauren Boebert statement about Islamophobia.

But the speaker has said to her caucus, be careful, this could backfire, you know, punishing Republicans for their statements.

Where does this go? And that consideration of the backfiring. BORGER: Look, I think the Democrats have to make a decision. And that

is, do you want to get in the middle of all of these Republican fights that are going on?

You know, we just talked about the fights going on in the state of Georgia.

We can talk about it in the House of Representatives where you have these Republicans sending out these Christmas greetings or making statements like Boebert made and refusing to publicly apologize to her Democratic colleague.

[14:59:59]

And so, you know, when she said, I apologize to anyone who was offended by what I said, so, you know, I don't know -- I don't know where it ends.