When Democrats rammed through the Inflation Reduction Act during the days they controlled all of Washington, D.C., it ignited a chain reaction that led to higher Medicare costs for America’s senior citizens.
“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.
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 chain reaction began when the act shifted the burden of paying for prescription medicine from seniors to insurance companies.
Then came what could have been predicted: Insurance companies hiked their premiums for 2025.
Fitwater, in his Op-Ed, said increases were coming in at 179 percent.
But since that was going to hit right before the election, there was one more step – a federal bailout that has the taxpayer-funded federal treasury taking the hit for what the IRA caused.
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
“It’s using the federal treasury for political advantage,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.
“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,” he said.
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. A Wall Street Journal editorial explained the process.
“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 explained.
