Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Biden spent billions to delay Medicare premiums spike, protect Harris campaign before election
Just the News ^ | 11/3/24 | Steven Richards

Posted on 11/03/2024 9:58:47 PM PST by CFW

Democrats were confronted earlier this year with a terrifying reality: a cap on out-of-pocket costs for patients to limit Medicare drug spending passed as part of Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act was set to spike premiums for millions of senior citizens just weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

To avoid the political catastrophe of presiding over major premium increases in the middle of a closely contested election, the Biden-Harris administration used its authority to reroute appropriated funding to subsidize the premiums for seniors until after the election.

The administration’s $5 billion budget gimmick kicked the proverbial can down the road, but only adds to the estimated possible $20 billion in additional spending over three years to cover up the unintended consequences of one of the Biden-Harris administration's signature las.

While they free Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to tout the caps in her key economic plan for the middle class, the subsidies will cost taxpayers and seniors in the long run.

[snip]

Medicare Part D premiums were slated to increase in October at the beginning of open enrollment following pressure on insurance companies generated by the Inflation Reduction Act’s caps on drug prices—one of the Biden-Harris Administration’s signature legislative initiatives.

This could have spelled political disaster for Democrats and their nominee, who bragged that she cast the tie-breaking vote on the legislation.

But the administration swooped in to prevent the catastrophe. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in July a new program to stabilize the premiums, called a demonstration. This program would shell out a total of approximately $5 billion in subsidies for insurance companies to cover the costs of capping prices and other effects of the Inflation Reduction Act.

(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: biden; democrats; electioninterference; healthcare; medicare; premiums; pricehike; seniors; stevenrichards
Heads up senior Freepers!
1 posted on 11/03/2024 9:58:47 PM PST by CFW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: CFW

Election interference.


2 posted on 11/03/2024 10:15:27 PM PST by kiryandil (Kraft durch Freude! - The Kamunist and The Walzrus )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW
Oh not to worry, that 2.5% COLA will certainly cover it! One more thing for Trump to fix, or Kum-La to bury before the 2028 elections. The feculent "IRA" needs to be REPEALED ASAP.
3 posted on 11/03/2024 10:16:40 PM PST by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV groupthink!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ex gun maker.

Where did the bold and strike-through come from?


4 posted on 11/04/2024 12:07:46 AM PST by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV group-think!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Ex gun maker.

Actually, your post just has strike-through added. No bold.


5 posted on 11/04/2024 1:52:28 AM PST by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: CatOwner

I see massive loss in dental choices for 2025. Our PPO is getting the axe for 2025 and no other competitor is left.
Unhappy in Florida.


6 posted on 11/04/2024 2:49:07 AM PST by George from New England (escaped CT back in 2006ttsee)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: CFW

“Seniors have been the biggest losers of all from Biden’s inflationary policies, because they’ve lost money,” economist and former Trump advisor Stephen Moore told the John Solomon Reports podcast.

The new part D drug costs are absurdly high across the board in every plan offered in my area. Its mind boggling.
Thank you, FJB and Commiela, ya fetid basturds.


7 posted on 11/04/2024 2:49:35 AM PST by Adder (End fascism...defeat all Democrats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

And of course there is no way to pay for these expensive gimmicks so the bill is just piled on the national debt causing more inflation.


8 posted on 11/04/2024 3:45:54 AM PST by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

All spending bills begin in the House of Representatives. The House has a choice between passing bills for each department and agency, specifying what the funds are to be spent on (the old way) or passing enormous spending bills at the last minute to avoid a shutdown filled with earmarks and huge pools of discretionary money for bureaucrats and the administration to redirect and spend for whatever they wish.

Both Republican and Democrat controlled House of Representatives have fully embraced option two. Hence billions for Ukraine, billions for illegals, and now billions to cover up the implications of a Medicare bill. During the Trump years, his administration redirected billions from various government funding to building the border wall the Republican Congress under Paul Ryan and McConnell, and the Democrat Congress under Pelosi and Schumer refused to fund.

Blame not the president for doing what Congress allows him to do with respect to spending.


9 posted on 11/04/2024 3:59:06 AM PST by Soul of the South (The past is gone and cannot be changed. Tomorrow can be a better day if we work on it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Adder

>The new part D drug costs are absurdly high across the board in every plan offered in my area. <

That is not possible!!! Kamala told us she lowered drug prices for a whopping 15 drugs out of a possible 17,413 prescription drugs in the US. /s

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/08/15/statement-from-vice-president-kamala-harris-on-lower-prescription-drug-prices/

EC


10 posted on 11/04/2024 5:38:10 AM PST by Ex-Con777
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: kiryandil

I think it’s impeachable


11 posted on 11/04/2024 6:45:51 AM PST by SomeCallMeTim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; bitt; ...

p


12 posted on 11/04/2024 10:01:02 AM PST by bitt (<img src=' 'width=30%>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

So the prices in Medicare will soar during the Trump admin and he will get the blame as if all along he was against Medicare, the left’s big lie?


13 posted on 11/10/2024 12:00:39 PM PST by Beowulf9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson