Price of drugs increases under Harris
Go to Kamala Harris’ campaign website and among the very short list of alleged achievements is this: “She cast the deciding vote to lower drug prices and cap insulin prices for our seniors.”
The only problem is that drug costs for seniors have skyrocketed since Harris signed that bill.
Harris is pointing to the criminally misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act,” which got zero Republican votes, and which was supposed to lower the cost of prescription drugs by giving, as Harris puts it, “Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices with Big Pharma.”
When George W. Bush established Medicare Part D, he let private insurers negotiate with drug companies over prices and then compete for seniors’ business. The result was a program that cost both seniors and taxpayers far less than government bureaucrats had expected, offered seniors a wide range of options, and had premiums that barely budged for more than a decade.
In fact, average monthly premiums for a Part D plan were lower when Donald Trump left office than under Barack Obama.
Harris’ tie-breaking vote has turned this once-successful program upside down.
Seniors next year will face premiums that are 57% higher, on average, than they were in 2021.
“Seniors in some states face even bigger hits to their wallets,” finds a state-by-state analysis done by the Heritage Foundation. “Under the Biden-Harris administration, Medicare drug plan premiums jumped by more than 90% in 10 states. Premiums more than doubled in three of those states (California, 122%; New York, 116%; and Nevada, 104%).”
And the number of plans offered has been cut in half. Which means less competition, which in turn will fuel further price hikes.
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If Harris and the Democrats thought they were helping seniors by reducing the price of medication they were mistaken. With the cost "skyrocketing" some may have to make a choice between meds and food.
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