What the Inflation Reduction Act Has Meant for Healthcare 2 Years Later
Laura Packard in Common Dreams
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Thank you to the millions of people fighting every day for
lower drug prices, to Congress for passing the Inflation Reduction Act, U.S.
Vice President Kamala Harris for casting the deciding
vote in the Senate, and President Joe Biden for signing it into law.
Meet Bob Parant, from New York.
He’s a 71-year-old man who has been living with type 1 diabetes for over fifty
years. He lost his leg in 2010, and became eligible for Medicare. Before the
Inflation Reduction Act, the last price Bob paid for a vial of insulin was
$580, which was “horrendous.”
We have made so much progress on healthcare. But as
everyone reading this knows, there is so much more to do.
Listen to Pam Parker, from Maryland: She’s a retired electrician, 62 years old, and has been diabetic since she was 30. “I had to decide, a lot of months, between mortgage, groceries, utilities, and other things… I would juggle my expenses, and really juggle my healthcare.. I would eat less, or ration my insulin to make it last.. I had high blood pressure, I fell into a coma, my kidneys failed… they told me I coded.”
Learn from Robin Craycroft, from Missouri:
When she turned 65 and had access to Medicare, the pharmacist told her that one
insulin for three months was $3,000. “Everything that we had planned,
cancelled, and our life just changed. And I felt such guilt over that… We’re
gonna spend $2,000 a month (two insulin vials) to keep me alive. You start
going through, am I worth it? Should I do that to [my husband]?”
Hear Steven Hadfield, from North
Carolina: “Before the $35 cap, sometimes you had to skip a dose,
sometimes you had to not test yourself, watch what you eat because you couldn’t
afford it…”
The $35 insulin co-pay cap for people on Medicare is just
one of the health-changing and life-changing parts of the Inflation Reduction
Act.
This year, people on Medicare have their out of pocket Part
D drug costs capped at around $3,500. And next year, the maximum drops down to
$2,000. This means seniors on a fixed income won’t have to choose medicine over
food or housing or anything else. Also recommended adult vaccines such as the
new shingles vaccine are now free for Medicare recipients.
Pharmaceutical companies that raise their prices higher than
inflation are required to pay Medicare a rebate, to encourage them to stop
price gouging patients. And in 2026, price negotiations for the first 10 drugs
under Medicare go into effect: lowering the costs of those drugs for millions
of Americans. The savings will continue for patients and taxpayers as more drug
prices are negotiated each year.
But the Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t just help people on
Medicare. Over 21 million Americans like
me get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
When I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2017, I did not qualify for
financial help for insurance. Thankfully I was able to afford a plan anyway,
and to pay the maximum deductible for that year. A bargain compared to the over
half a million dollars it cost to save my life.
I am so grateful to still be here, and for the Affordable
Care Act made truly more affordable to millions of working Americans like me.
The American Rescue Plan, and then the Inflation Reduction
Act, provided financial help for health insurance to many more who needed it.
This law caps the cost of premiums at no more than 8.5% of your income, meaning
people—especially older folks who face higher premiums, or people in more
expensive healthcare markets—don’t get penalized, and can still afford the care
they need.
We have made so much progress on healthcare. But as everyone
reading this knows, there is so much more to do.
First, we have to defend the advances in the Inflation
Reduction Act. A new administration and a new Congress next year means
everything we’ve gained could be on the chopping block.
Second, the health insurance tax credits piece expires in
2025. Without that renewal, millions of Americans would go back to being priced
out of health insurance.
Third, the Medicare provisions such as the $35 insulin cap,
the drug price negotiation, and more, need to be expanded to everyone.
We are grateful to still be here, and to keep fighting until
every American can get the healthcare they need. We cannot go back.
Laura Packard is a Denver-based health
care advocate and founder of Health Care Voices, a non-profit grassroots
organization for adults with serious medical conditions, senior advisor to Be a
Hero and co-chair of Health Care Voter.
