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One of President Biden’s missions was to lower prescription drug prices. Although some of the president’s actions were blocked by Republicans in Congress and the courts, the president achieved major successes on Medicare.
Mr. Biden announced in a statement today:
I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege, and I have promoted that goal throughout my presidency. This week, the new $2,000 cap on Medicare prescription drug costs under my Inflation Control Act goes into full effect, bringing us one step closer to an America where everyone can afford the quality health care they need.
Before I took office, people on Medicare who took expensive drugs could face an overwhelming burden of paying more than $10,000 a year in out-of-pocket costs for the drugs they needed to survive. did. When I took on Big Pharma and won, we changed that and for the first time capped out-of-pocket costs for seniors for drugs they get at the pharmacy. The 2024 cost cap was about $3,500, but the policy saved Medicare enrollees $1 billion in cost-sharing savings in the first six months of this year alone. From January 1, 2025, drug cost caps will be fully phased in, capping costs at $2,000 per year. As a result, 19 million people are expected to save an average of $400 each. It’s a game changer for the American people.
My Inflation Control Act will change Medicare for the better, so Americans will have more money back in their pockets over the next few years.
One of President Trump and his party’s main goals to help pay for the planned tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations is to cut health care, particularly Medicaid and veterans programs.
Republicans cannot cut Medicare in the reconciliation bill, but one thing they can hope for from Trump is to roll back the progress Biden has made in lowering health care costs for older Americans.
For the past four years, Biden has treated 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 suspect that millions of Americans have no idea what they stand to lose when the next administration takes office.
As the president said, Biden did something good for people that will 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 health care? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
