President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, faced off on a debate stage on Thursday for the primary time since 2020. Because of strict debate rules, they managed to avoid the near-constant interruptions that had marred their previous encounters.
Biden, who spoke in a croaky voice and infrequently struggled to articulate his arguments clearly, once said his administration had “finally defeated Medicare.” Trump, meanwhile, repeated quite a few falsehoods, including that Democrats wanted doctors to give you the chance to abort babies after birth.
Trump took responsibility for the Supreme Court's 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to the states. “That's what everybody wanted,” he said, adding, “It was a great thing.” Biden's response: “It was a terrible thing.”
In a notable moment, Trump said he would revoke FDA approval of medication abortions, which were approved last 12 months in almost two thirds of abortions within the United States. Some conservatives have targeted the FDA's approval of the drug mifepristone, which has existed for greater than 20 years, in an try to further restrict access to abortion nationwide.
“The Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill. And I agree with their decision and I will not block it,” Trump said. The Supreme Court ruled this month that an alliance of anti-abortion medical groups and doctors didn’t have standing to challenge the FDA's approval of the drug. The court's decision, nevertheless, didn’t amount to approval of the drug.
CNN hosted the talk, which didn’t have an audience, at its headquarters in Atlanta. The moderators were CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. The debate format allowed CNN to mute the candidates' microphones when it was not their turn to talk.
Our PolitiFact Partners fact-checked the talk in real time as Biden and Trump clashed over the economy, immigration and abortion, and again returned to the discussion about their ages. Biden is the oldest sitting U.S. president at 81; if Trump defeats him, he would finish his second term at 82.
Biden: “We have lowered the price [of] prescription drugs[s]which is a big problem for many people, to $15 for an insulin syringe instead of $400.”
Half true. Biden touted his efforts to lower prescription drug costs by pointing to the $35 monthly cap on insulin that his administration put in place as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. But during debate, he initially muddled the number, saying it had been reduced to $15. In his closing argument, Biden corrected the amount to $35.
The price of insulin for Medicare beneficiaries dropped to $35 a month, not $15, starting in 2023. Drug pricing experts told PolitiFact in evaluating a similar claim that most Medicare beneficiaries probably did not pay an average of $400 a month before the changes, although some may have paid that much in a given month because costs vary by coverage phase and dosage.
Trump: “I’m the one who lowered the insulin levels of seniors.”
Mostly flawed. As president, Trump led the Part D Senior Savings Modela program that capped insulin costs at $35 per month for some older Americans in participating drug plans.
But because it was voluntary, only 38% of all Medicare drug plansincluding Medicare Advantage plans, participated in 2022, according to KFF. Trump's plan also covered only one form of each dosage and insulin type.
Biden calls the $35 monthly mandatory insulin cap established in the Inflation Reduction Act a major success. That cap applies to all Medicare prescription plans and will be expanded to all covered insulin types and dosages. While Trump's model was a start, it did not have the far-reaching reach that Biden's mandatory cap achieved.
Biden: Trump “wants to repeal the ACA.”
Half true. In 2016, Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the White House, Trump supported a failed attempt to do just that. He said repeatedly in campaign appearances and social media posts throughout 2023 that he would repeal the health care law. In March, however, Trump walked back that stance, writing on his Truth Social platform that he was “not running to finish the ACA” but to make it “higher” and “cheaper.” Trump has not said how he would do that. He has often promised Obamacare replacement plans without ever having produced one.
Trump: “The problem [Democrats] They are radical because they take the life of a child in the eighth month, in the ninth month and even after birth.”
False. The intentional killing of a newborn is infanticide and is illegal in all U.S. states.
Most elected Democrats who have spoken publicly on the issue have said they support abortion under the Roe v. Wade standard, which allows abortions up to fetal viability—usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy, when the fetus can survive outside the womb. Many Democrats have also said they support abortions after that point if the attending physician deems it necessary.
Medical experts say situations that result in fetal death in the third trimester are rare — less than 1% of abortions in the U.S. occur after 21 weeks — and typically involve fatal fetal abnormalities or life-threatening emergencies for the pregnant person. For fetuses with a very short life expectancy, doctors may induce labor and provide palliative care. Some families choose this option when faced with diagnoses that limit their babies' survival to minutes or days after birth.
Some Republicans who have made similar claims to Trump point to the Democrats’ support for the Women's Health Protection Act of 2022that would have banned many state restrictions on abortion access, pointing to the law's provisions that say providers and patients have the right to perform and receive abortions without specific restrictions or requirements hindering access. Abortion opponents say the bill, which was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 49 to 51, would have created a loophole in the law that would have eliminated any restrictions on abortions later in pregnancy.
Alina Salganicoff, director of KFF's women's health policy program, said the legislation would have allowed health care providers to perform abortions without obstacles such as wait times, medically unnecessary testing and in-person visits or other restrictions. The bill would have allowed post-viability abortion if, the bill states, “in the great faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuing the pregnancy would pose a risk to the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
Trump: “He's destroying Social Security because thousands and thousands of individuals are flooding into our country they usually're paying into Social Security. They're paying for Medicare and Medicaid.”
Wrong. It is wrong to say that immigration will destroy Social Security. Social Security's financial challenges stem from a shortage of workers relative to those receiving benefits.
Immigration is far from a fiscal panacea for Social Security's problems. But more immigrants in the U.S. would likely increase the ratio of workers to beneficiaries, possibly for decades, thereby extending the program's solvency.
Most immigrants in the United States without legal permission are also no entitlement to social insuranceHowever, people who have entered the United States without authorization and who have been granted temporary residency for more than one year on humanitarian grounds are eligible to receive benefits under this program.
Immigrants without legal residency in the United States are usually not eligible Registered mail in government-funded medical health insurance plans equivalent to Medicare and Medicaid. (Some States offer Medicaid coverage under government-funded programs no matter immigration status. Immigrants are entitled to Medicaid Emergency no matter their legal status.)
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