OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden, with the assistance of his vice president, Kamala Harris, and most Democrats, are saddling Medicare recipients with higher premiums on their way out of the White House, according to a Friday report.
When Democrats controlled Congress for the first two years of the Biden-Harris regime, they rammed through the trillion-dollar “Inflation Reduction Act” that contained hundreds of billions in spending on ‘Green New Deal’ priorities. The measure was passed thanks to Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
That “ignited a chain reaction that led to higher Medicare costs for America’s senior citizens,” the Western Journal reported.
“Nearly two years after its passage, the IRA has diverted nearly $260 billion from the projected Medicare ‘savings’ to pay for special interest handouts like large tax credits for costly electric vehicles, enormous subsidies paid to big health insurer-PBM corporations, and funding health care programs for illegal immigrants,” Ron Fitzwater, Chief Executive Officer of the Missouri Pharmacy Association, wrote in an Op-Ed in the Missouri Times.
“The Biden-Harris administration is not protecting Medicare; they’re stealing from it,” he wrote.
This is a problem since Medicare funding has been on a trajectory to go broke for years.
Biden and Harris took money out of Medicare and used it on green energy. Now premiums will skyrocket. And they purposely tried to hide it until after the election. pic.twitter.com/AUnb4pV0l3
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) November 15, 2024
According to Politico, the administration is “doling out” billions to insurance companies ahead of the election to blunt the impact of what will be rising premiums for Medicare recipients beginning next year. “The administration released a program that would give insurers an extra $15 per member a month amid other changes. Republicans balked at the program, saying it is a cynical ploy to avoid bad headlines right before the November election,” the outlet reported.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, told the outlet: “It’s using the federal treasury for political advantage. This is a way for the executive branch to implement a policy which has very positive political ramifications for them, but with very sketchy legal standing.”
“The Treasury is going to borrow more money to do this,” Cassidy added. “I don’t see them as being particularly hyper aware of the potential cost of all this. I don’t think it matters to them, but it should matter to us as taxpayers.”
Fitwater, in his Op-Ed, said increases were coming in at 179 percent.
Biden/Harris Administration took money from Medicare and spent it on their green energy deal, Now the premium is expected to have to rise! https://t.co/5KGdy4KDNi
— Idiot4Life (@Idiot4L) November 15, 2024
Fitzwater estimates that “All told, that puts the entire IRA raid on Medicare at well over $330 billion.”
Biden-Harris IRA diverted $260 BILLION in #Medicare “savings” for EVs/other handouts, spiked premiums 20%-179% & raids $5 BILLION+ per year from Medicare trust fund to cover up costs. Actual patient Rx savings? $1.5 billion. Bidenomics! @WSJopinionhttps://t.co/5qRoeL2WP1
— Steve Forbes (@SteveForbesCEO) August 15, 2024
The IRA’s tinkering with Medicare also has impacted drug companies, which a Wall Street Journal editorial explained.
“The IRA let Medicare ‘negotiate’ prices for 10 to 20 drugs a year and a total of 60 by 2029. Negotiate is a euphemism for extortion: Drug makers that don’t participate or reject the government’s price face a daily excise tax that starts at 186% and climbs to 1,900% of a drug’s daily revenue,” the editorial began.
“The law also requires manufacturers to pay the government rebates on medicines sold to Medicare if they raise prices more than the rate of inflation, and puts them on the hook for more of the entitlement’s Part D costs. Democrats used the resulting estimated ‘savings’ of some $160 billion to pay for the green new deal,” the editorial said.
“But subsidized solar panels won’t help if you get sick. The inevitable, albeit invisible, result of Democrats’ raid on pharmaceutical companies will be fewer new medicines,” the WSJ editorial noted further.
