Medicare

The Inflation Reduction Act gives Medicare historic new powers to limit prescription drug prices. But the pharmaceutical industry is already lobbying to dull their impact.

Medicare and Medicaid pay “look-alike” health centers significantly more than hospitals for treating patients, and converting or creating clinics can help hospitals reduce their expenses.

The bill enables the federal health secretary to negotiate the prices of some drugs for Medicare. It also caps out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for people on Medicare at $2,000, effective in 2025.

A divided Congress gave final passage to Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill.

That reduction wouldn’t result from cuts in benefits. Instead, Medicare would be empowered to leverage its market power to pay lower prices for certain drugs.

President Biden is urging swift House passage, and the House seems on track to provide final congressional approval when it returns briefly from summer recess on Friday.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin reached an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that had eluded them for months on health care costs, energy and climate issues.

The Government Accountability Office and the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office say seniors enrolled in the program are suffering and taxpayers are getting bilked for billions of dollars a year.

A local chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans wants Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio to support legislation that would decrease health care and prescription drug costs for seniors.

The Biden administration is considering whether Medicaid, which pays the bills for 62% of nursing home residents, should require that most of that funding be used to provide care, rather than for maintenance, capital improvements, or profits.