Protecting Social Security, Medicare Takes Center Stage in State of the Union Address

New Rx Law Has Already Made a Difference for Him

As President Joe Biden described in his State of the Union address how he wants to expand the benefits in the nearly 2-year-old prescription drug law, Steven Hadfield was watching from first lady Jill Biden's box in the House chamber. Hadfield was among those invited to witness the speech because the 71-year-old has been an outspoken advocate for older Americans like him who have for years struggled to pay for the medications he needs to stay alive.

Hadfield has Waldenström macroglobulinemia, a blood cancer, as well as diabetes. Brukinsa, the medicine he takes to treat his cancer, has a $16,000-a-month price tag — and he also takes multiple prescription drugs to manage his diabetes.

“Drugs should not cost this,” Hadfield said in a telephone interview soon after he flew to the nation’s capital from his home in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina. “These people are selling these medicines that shouldn't cost that much.”

After spending his life working in retail, Hadfield says he is continuing to work at 71 because his Social Security benefits just don't stretch enough to pay for the basics and all the medicines he needs. He now works several jobs, including at the sports arena in Charlotte.

“I'm afraid if I retire, I won’t be able to afford what I need to survive,” he says, even though his daughters are concerned about the toll his continuing to work may take on his health. “No one in America should have to live this way.”

Hadfield says that since the passage of the new prescription drug law, he has already gotten some relief from his high medication bills. Beginning this year, when Medicare enrollees with high enough costs enter the catastrophic phase of Part D prescription drug coverage, they no longer will have any out-of-pocket costs for the rest of the year.

Hadfield has already reached that status, having paid more than $3,000 out-of-pocket just two months into 2024. He is also benefiting, he says, from the $ 35-a-month out-of-pocket cap on insulin. Before the new law, his insulin cost him $400 a month. And he's looking forward to the $2,000 out-of-pocket Part D prescription drug cap that will kick in next year.

The State of the Union visit was not the first time Hadfield traveled to Washington, D.C., to be part of the battle for lower prescription drug prices.

In August 2023, Hadfield introduced Biden at a White House event calling attention to the benefits of the then year-old Inflation Reduction Act.

The law, he said, has “given me an entirely new lease on life. For too long drugmakers made a fortune while patients like me live in constant fear, wondering how we pay for our medicine.”