WASHINGTON (AP) — At least one mystery surrounding President Joe Biden’s often confused answers during the presidential debate has been solved.
At the beginning of the debate, the 81-year-old Democrat was asked a question about the national debt and ended his rambling answer by declaring, “We finally defeated Medicare.”
That was not Biden’s intention to say about the popular health insurance program for older Americans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clarified the president’s intention on Wednesday, saying, “He wanted to say he defeated the pharmaceutical industry.”
Biden wanted to point to one of his legislative achievements: Medicare now has the ability to negotiate the prices it pays pharmaceutical companies for certain prescription drugs, helping to reduce federal spending.
The president’s botched response helped raise greater doubts about his ability to run against likely Republican nominee Donald Trump in the November election.
Trump seized on Biden’s response and replied that “he is destroying Medicare.”
