Lower Drug Prices: A Victory for Affordable Healthcare
Essential Health Benefits: A Game-Changer
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurers are now required to cover prescription drugs as part of the essential health benefits. This means that all health insurance plans must include at least one drug from every category and class of approved medicines.
Medicare Negotiation Program: Empowering Seniors
The Inflation Reduction Act has further improved the situation by introducing the Medicare Drug Negotiation Program. This program allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors, ensuring they have access to affordable medications.
Lowering Prices for High-Cost Drugs
The Biden administration has recently announced its first round of high-cost drugs that will undergo price negotiation. These drugs include treatments for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, chronic kidney disease, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. The negotiation of these prices will benefit communities disproportionately affected by these conditions, such as women, communities of color, and rural populations.
Protecting Progress from Repeal Attempts
Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans have been tirelessly attempting to repeal it entirely, putting these improvements at risk. If successful, pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, who have already spent over $100 million to lobby against the act, will continue to profit billions annually from drugs without generic alternatives, while charging Americans four times more than other high-income countries.
Learn More
- The MAGA Republican War on American Health Care
- As Savings Soar Ahead of First Anniversary of Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans Threaten Repeal
- Trump Vows to “Never Give Up” MAGA-Republican Efforts to Repeal the Affordable Care Act, Ripping Health Care Away From Millions
- Fact Sheet: American Seniors Will Save As Medicare Negotiates Lower Drug Costs
Read More of this Story at www.wispolitics.com – 2023-12-15 19:21:16
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