Family talks about the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act

BUENA VISTA TWP., Michigan (WNEM) – Congressman Dan Kildee and others gathered at the Senior Center in Buena Vista Township to celebrate the second anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, which helped lower prescription drug prices.

“You know, we watch the news all the time and hear what's happening in Washington. We see what's happening in Lansing, and it rarely affects us,” Cheryl Hadsall said.

But she says everything changed the day the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act was passed. The law lowered prescription drug costs for more than two million people in Michigan, limited drug copayments, capped insulin costs at $35 a month and allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

Kildee attributes this fact to Vice President Kamala Harris.

“This happened because we passed this law, a law that would not have passed without Kamala Harris,” Kildee said.

Hadsall is a mother who experienced the hardships of battling high insulin costs for her daughter even before the law came into force.

“Diabetes is a very expensive disease. And when you go to the pharmacy, you're standing behind someone who can't pay their bill, or they see how high it is: $300 or $400. I've experienced that myself,” she said.

She said her daughter lost her job and health insurance and fell into a diabetic coma, so Hadsall and other family members had to step in to provide her with insulin.

“She wanted to be independent. She didn't want me, she didn't want my family, but she had to rely on us. So we had to take care of ourselves and buy her insulin for several months,” she said.

Hadsall's daughter has since died, but she said it provided comfort for her in her final months and that this is one reason why she believes the Inflation Reduction Act must remain in force.

“It is very comforting to me that she had some financial freedom in the last months of her life,” Hadsall said.

Former President Donald Trump holds a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, August 17.

Harris will take a bus tour there on Sunday, August 18, before heading to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention next week.

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