Linda Hunt Williams - Raiding Medicare: A Terrible Idea
by former State Representative Linda Hunt Williams (R-Wake)
North Carolina’s Medicare enrollees are feeling the squeeze after the Democrats’ promises of reduced Medicare costs and better health care go unfulfilled. Over two years ago, the Biden-Harris administration introduced the “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA) despite strong and unified GOP resistance. The left stood confidently behind the Biden-Harris Administration’s initiatives, despite rising costs and empty promises.
In two years, Part D premiums, the prescription drug coverage part of Medicare, have skyrocketed an average of 20 percent under the IRA. The Biden-Harris administration and their liberal allies are now working to rewrite the IRA. They announced a “demonstration program” to delay Part D premium increases by stifling an additional $72 billion from Medicare to pay off big pharma and health insurance-Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) corporations.
At present, nearly 2 million American seniors run the risk of losing their current coverage. The number of Part D plan options available to Medicare enrollees is at an all-time low. The IRA’s Medicare drug price “negotiations” carry a lasting impact for millions of Americans. The bill has limited access to life-saving drugs for many seniors, therein limiting access to the care they need most. These “negotiations” are nothing but liberal price controls. The left supported the Biden-Harris IRA, maintaining their alliance with health insurance giants. Since 2022, when Biden signed the bill into law, the IRA has diverted over $250 billion from Medicare “savings” for the left to fund their liberal policy agendas, such as subsidies for big health insurance-Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) corporations.
This bill has not helped North Carolina seniors personally. Democrats claimed the Biden-Harris IRA would lower health care costs, but the exact opposite has proven true. Over 85% of senior voters agree their consumer costs have increased since the bill was signed into law in 2022. Almost 80% of these seniors see the IRA as an utter failure.
The Biden-Harris administration touts the IRA as notable, benchmark legislation. They are out of touch with what our seniors need most! Liberals commend the disastrous bill and seem to forget the IRA has forced drug manufacturers to suspend treatments for life-threatening diseases at critical times. America’s seniors deserve better than the Biden-Harris IRA.
