On Airlines and Insulin
Within 24 hours, the following two news items came across my newsfeed.
First, from Yahoo! News:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on U.S. airlines to follow American Airlines in committing to eliminating family seating fees as part of their customer service plans."No one should have to pay extra to be seated with their kids," Biden wrote on Twitter. "Time for more airlines to follow suit."Biden had urged airlines in his State of the Union earlier this month to take the action, saying, "Baggage fees are bad enough - airlines can't treat your child like a piece of baggage..."...United Airlines said last week it would make it easier for children under 12-years old to sit next to an adult by using a new seat map dynamically locating available adjacent seats at booking.Biden in September touted his administration's "cracking down" on U.S. airlines to improve treatment of passengers after they updated customer service plans for services provided when flights are canceled or delayed. Nearly all airlines agreed to offer passengers meals and overnight stays for delays within their control.
Second, from a March 1 White House statement:
Today, Eli Lilly, the largest manufacturer of insulin in the United States, announced that they are lowering their prices, capping what patients pay out of pocket for the drug maker’s insulin products at $35. For far too long, American families have been crushed by drug costs many times higher than what people in other countries are charged for the same prescriptions. Insulin costs less than $10 to make, but Americans are sometimes forced to pay over $300 for it. It’s flat wrong.
Last year, I signed a law to cap insulin at $35 for seniors and I called on pharma companies to bring prices down for everyone on their own. Today, Eli Lilly did that.
It’s a big deal, and it’s time for other manufacturers to follow.
It would seem as if the demise of President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. has (once again) been premature.
But media criticism aside, what this type of news represents is a deeper, more nuanced understanding of modern-day American politics. Because while Republicans hoped to gum up our democracy over the next two years by running the House of Representatives into the ground through absurd committee hearings and lackluster legislation, Joe Biden and Democrats are using all the tools at their disposal to continue to do work on behalf of the American people. While the Senate continues to shape the court for generations to come with judicial appointments, Biden has been vigorously touring the country along with Vice-President Harris and Secretary Buttigieg to highlight the new projects and jobs that have come about as a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Biden and his administration know that a critical re-election question is always "is your life better now than it was 4 years ago?" By putting working women and men at the front of that discussion and by highlighting a robust economy, Biden is already ahead of the game when it comes to whichever fascist the Republicans put forth as their nominee in 2024.
But Biden has also successfully utilized the bully pulpit to enact positive change, as we've seen with these two recent developments. Neither American Airlines nor Eli Lilly act unless they begin to sense some sort of mounting public pressure. And that type of public pressure only comes forth when a high-profile public figure like Joe Biden specifically calls out unfair industry practices in a public setting like the State of the Union. Nobody legally forced American Airlines or Eli Lilly to make those changes. But they read the tea leaves. They understood that their corporate greed was being called out on the national stage. Joe Biden didn't name names but he didn't have to. Everyone knew that it was a blanket call across both of those industries to step up and do the right thing. American Airlines and Eli Lily aren't benevolent corporations; they simply understand that they have a business opportunity to make themselves distinguishable from their competitors. They would never had led on those issues had Joe Biden not called the country's attention to these unfair business practices.
Joe Biden is no dummy yet he still has his detractors who somehow think 50 years of experience in government is a deterrent. That if being the last one in the room for 8 years every single time a president makes a decision is somehow unhelpful for him in his new role. Every single supporter of term-limits in local and state government fails to understand that there is a learning curve and that the most successful politicians take decades to amass both experience and relationships that help them get the job done. Joe Biden saw Barack Obama successfully use his own State of the Union addresses to push for progressive change like the $15 minimum wage in 2014. Here we are 9 years later and in 2023 a total of 27 states are increasing their own minimum wage at some point over the calendar year. That doesn't happen without a gentle nudge from Barack Obama. Just like how American Airlines and Eli Lily don't act without a gentle nudge from Joe Biden.
Expect to see more of this over the next 18+ months as businesses will want to get ahead on these issues. Look for other companies to amend their junk fees practices as more and more consumers are being made aware of these absurd hidden costs. Biden has also called out hotels, banks, and concert vendors for similar practices. In the coming weeks, expect at least a handful of those in these industries to step forward a la American Airlines and Eli Lilly. Because they know that by leading, they have an opportunity to create distance between themselves and their competitors. With similar products and services being offered across industries, companies are always looking for an opportunity to distinguish themselves from the competition. Joe Biden has now forced their hand, all while winning huge victories for the American consumer and creating tangible evidence of the effectiveness of his policies leading into 2024.
Not too bad for a man they call Sleepy Joe.