Lower Medicare drug prices are a cause for celebration • NC Newsline

Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowers drug prices and makes lifesaving medicines more accessible to millions of Americans covered by Medicare. For decades, pharmaceutical companies have ripped off Medicare beneficiaries on everything from insulin to blood thinners, but thanks to the new law, the nation's largest drugmakers will finally be held accountable for raising their prices faster than inflation and increasing their profits through monopoly pricing. The result is more affordable medicines for seniors and people with disabilities.

And the Inflation Reduction Act isn't just limited to Medicare. The bill renews important tax credits that help millions of Americans afford health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The tax credits reduce premium costs by an average of $2,400 per family, allowing a record number of people to get ACA insurance.

No matter your age or where you live, healthcare reform is on the ballot this fall and ranks as one of the most important economic issues facing Americans of all ages. And with the candidates' differences on healthcare issues so vast, everything is at stake. Whether it's affordable health insurance on the ACA exchanges, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid in the federal budget, repeal of the New Medicare Negotiation Act to reduce drug costs under Medicare, or attacks on reproductive health, our access to healthcare in the future will depend on who we vote into office this year.

When it comes to health care, each candidate's track record speaks for itself.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Democrats in Congress and signed by President Biden in 2022, authorized Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the first time. It also set a $2,000 cap on deductibles for the first time, relieving millions of beneficiaries who previously had to pay an unlimited amount out of pocket for their medications. The law also created a cap on insulin for the first time, guaranteeing that Medicare patients would not have to pay more than $35 per month for insulin going forward.

Tens of thousands of North Carolinians are already benefiting from the law: 56,921 North Carolinians are now saving an average of $449 per year thanks to the $35 monthly insulin cap. By 2025, 662,600 North Carolinians will be saving an average of $405.85 thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act's $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap.

As a senior citizen and diabetic, I am so excited about legislation that finally makes prescription drugs affordable after watching prices skyrocket year after year. As a diabetic for ten years, I was admitted to the emergency room four times in an 18-month period when I couldn't afford insulin. I am still paying off hospital debt that I accumulated years ago for those hospital visits that could have been avoided had insulin been affordable. I never want to go back to those days.

Most Americans agree: We want more action, not rollbacks, on laws and policies that make our health care more affordable. In fact, the benefits guaranteed to seniors and people with disabilities under the Inflation Reduction Act should be expanded to include negotiations and price reduction measures for more drugs, as President Biden has proposed, so that people of all ages can get more affordable medicines.

Yet despite the popularity of these reforms, Republicans in Congress want to repeal the new law, effectively putting prescription drug prices back in the hands of pharmaceutical companies before the law is even fully implemented. Rather than making the tax credits that help over 90% of ACA enrollees pay for their health care permanent, Republicans are already proposing to eliminate the tax credits in 2025. In some states, including ours, this would double the cost of ACA insurance for thousands of middle- and low-income people.

Former President Trump would go even further: He has announced that he would renew his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he returned to office, promising to replace it with a different, as-yet-undefined health insurance plan. Repealing the ACA would not only end health insurance for tens of millions of Americans, but also protections for pre-existing conditions for more than 150 million people who have private insurance.

Now is the time for voters to step in to secure affordable health care for ourselves and our families. Seniors are a key voting bloc, and with so much at stake, there has never been a better time to educate and motivate our community to make their voice heard by casting their ballot. Our health and the health of future generations depends on what happens in November.