The Daily Item
May 16, 2024
To those who contend that former president Donald Trump did more for Americans than President Joe Biden has, I offer, among other things, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted with bipartisan support. Let’s take a look at just one of its achievements.
While the IRA is best known for its clean-energy investments, it also authorizes Medicare to do something that more than 80 percent of voters say they want: Negotiate prices for the drugs senior citizens spend the most on — such as insulin.
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 37 million Americans — about 11% of our population — are living with diabetes. And 8.4 million Americans rely on insulin to survive. In 2018, the average list price of a month’s worth of insulin was $12 in Canada and $99 in the U.S., according to The Atlantic.
If you’re paying less for insulin, it’s because Joe Biden required Medicare to cap insulin prices at $35 per month.
The IRA will also cap Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket costs for all drugs, including those not included on the negotiation list, at $2,000 a year.
If Biden is reelected, he says he’ll expand Medicare’s drug negotiation to 50 drugs a year and extend the out-of-pocket spending caps to all of us.
In contrast, in 2016, Trump promised to “negotiate like crazy” on drug prices; he never did. In fact, Trump has said he is going to dismantle the IRA and “totally kill” the Affordable Care Act.
Whose approach is better for you?
Vance Waggoner
Lewisburg