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One of President Biden’s missions has been to lower prescription drug prices. Although Biden has been blocked by Republicans in Congress and the courts on some of his executive actions, the president has had great success with Medicare.
Biden announced in a statement today:
I believe that health care should be a right, not a privilege, and I have pursued that goal throughout my presidency. This week, we move one step closer to an America where everyone has access to the quality health care they need as Medicare’s new $2,000 limit on prescription drug costs under the Inflation Reduction Act takes full effect.
Before I took office, Medicare enrollees who took expensive medications could face the enormous burden of paying more than $10,000 a year in out-of-pocket costs for the drugs they need to survive. When I took on Big Pharma and won, we changed that and, for the first time, limited seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for drugs they buy at the pharmacy. The 2024 cost cap was about $3,500, and in the first six months of this year, the policy saved Medicare enrollees $1 billion in cost-sharing. From January 1, 2025, the drug cost cap will be fully phased in, with a cost cap now of $2,000 per year. As a result, 19 million people are expected to save an average of $400 per person. This is a game changer for the American people.
My inflation reduction bill changed Medicare for the better, and as a result, Americans will have more money back in their pockets for years to come.
One of Trump and his party’s main goals to help pay for the tax cuts he plans for the wealthy and big corporations are cuts to health care, particularly Medicaid and veterans programs.
Republicans cannot cut Medicare in the reconciliation bill, but one thing Trump can do is roll back the progress Biden has made in lowering costs for America’s seniors.
For the past four years, Biden has viewed health care as a right that all Americans should have access to. Biden expanded the ACA and Medicaid, increased health insurance subsidies, and made historic changes to Medicare.
I believe that millions of Americans have no idea what they will lose when the next administration takes office.
Biden has done something good for people that will, as the president said, help them for years to come, and people may not appreciate it until it’s gone.
What do you think about what Biden has done on Medicare and healthcare? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
