[tomder55]

Clueless is in St Croix touting prescription reductions from the act and taking full credit for the "savings " .

President Biden on Twitter: "The Inflation Reduction Act puts an annual $2,000 cap on prescription drug costs for seniors with Medicare Part D. It will save folks on one prostate cancer drug about $6,000 a year. It'll save the thousands of women taking breast cancer treatments $7,000 a year." / Twitter

President Biden on Twitter: "In six days, a month’s supply of insulin will be capped at $35 for our seniors." / Twitter

President Biden on Twitter: "Just 12 hours until many of the cost-saving provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act kick in for millions." / Twitter

Trouble is that the plan does nothing to reduce the cost of drugs. All it does is pass the costs off to someone else. In this case it will be you and me.

Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca PLC and Sanofi SA plan to raise prices in the United States on more than 350 unique drugs in early January, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.

The increases are expected to come as the pharmaceutical industry prepares for the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allows the government's Medicare health program to negotiate prices directly for some drugs starting in 2026. The industry is also contending with inflation and supply chain constraints that have led to higher manufacturing costs.
The increases are on list prices, which do not include rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts.

Drugmakers to raise prices on at least 350 drugs in U.S. in January (emergencyemail.org)

The government assumes the power to fix prices . The drug maker is given the opportunity to "negotiate " the price. But in the end if it doesn't comply with the government price a “noncompliance” excise tax of up to 1,900% of the medicine’s daily U.S. revenue will be slapped on the drug company.

If a drug manufacturer objects to the price dictated by HHS or thinks the government has unfairly calculated the inflation rebates, it has little legal recourse even if it can be demonstrated that the price the government wants them to accept is below manufacturer cost. The law also contains language prohibiting judicial or administrative review of whether the drug is eligible for negotiation or the price that is set. The IRA also imposes fines of up to $1 million a day if the company fails to provide HHS with any information it demands. And if a drug company is determined to have “knowingly” provided inaccurate information to the government, it can be fined up to $100 million.

The only way a manufacturer can exit a negotiation is if it chooses to withdraw all its products from being purchased by Medicare and Medicaid. Pulling out would be a financially ruinous move since those programs are far and away the largest buyers of prescription drugs in America. ....


“Apart from one or two rare wartime exceptions, due process requires that a party deprived of property must have the opportunity to be heard,” he said. “The IRA's bar on administrative  or judicial  review is an unprecedented  deprivation of due process.”

With New Pricing Law, the Feds Can Make Drug Firms Offers They Really Can't Refuse | Investigative Reports | fairfieldsuntimes.com

The company has the choice to eat the loss or to pass them on by raising costs of drugs not affected by the law.
So drug prices will increase due to this plan. That will be tacked onto increases in medical insurance costs .

[QUOTE]Economists, business leaders and health care industry experts are warning that the wage, revenue and supply chain pressures that hammered the margins of hospitals and clinics during the pandemic are about to send health coverage and out-of-pocket medical bills through the roof.

[/QUOTE

Health care inflation is coming for Biden - POLITICO

How's that for lowering health care costs !!!! ????

[Curlyben]

TBH, the entire US Healthcare system is terminally broken and fails those that are in greatest need.

[tomder55]

and the news out of London is that 500 patients are dying a week due to delays of urgent and emergency services .

The NIH is an unfixable disaster due mostly to subsidized care . Our problems are growing worse because our leaders try to emulate that model .

[jlisenbe]

Trouble is that the plan does nothing to reduce the cost of drugs. All it does is pass the costs off to someone else. In this case it will be you and me.

If only that was true. It will simply pass the costs off to a future generation living in a bankrupt country, but it won't be taxed now. It'll simply be borrowed/printed, so the taxpayers will be happy with all the goodies at no cost in the present, and the pols will be happy by appearing to be generous when in reality they are cowardly dogs. And things are no better in England where budget deficits now routinely run in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

As to the American system, as a Medicare recipient I can tell you that it's a great world. We old-timers rarely pay for anything. How much longer that can last is anyone's guess. It is very much an artificial system as it is in most of the West. It's just a guess as to how much longer this house of cards can stand.

[tomder55]

If only that was true. It will simply pass the costs off to a future generation living in a bankrupt country

That is future costs . The costs I describe are immediate and directly impact all Americans who pay for prescription drugs.

We old-timers rarely pay for anything. How much longer that can last is anyone's guess.

6 years until insolvency . Then I guess the monopoly bucks kick in.

[jlisenbe]

That is future costs . The costs I describe are immediate and directly impact all Americans who pay for prescription drugs.

Yes, but those costs are not being paid through increased taxes. If that was the case, then the pols wouldn't even propose such an insane idea. It only gets passed because the costs are funded with either borrowed or printed money, or with using current SS surpluses which has two problems. As you pointed out, it will only shorten the amount of time before SS revenues go upside down. It also lessens the SS surplus funds available to be used for non-SS spending, itself already an unmitigated disaster.

But we are working hard on getting the pronouns right.

It's a never-ending source of disappointment to me that we cannot come together, even on this board, in agreement that budget deficits, and especially long-term, enormous ones, are a terrible idea. The lib dems on this site are completely silent on the subject. We could argue all day as to WHAT to spend money on, but surely we could agree that we will live within our means no matter what.

[tomder55]

The debt exceeds GDP . That is crisis . But not even the conservative Repubs talk about debt reduction. They don't even talk about budget balancing . Clueless claimed credit for budget reductions because the rate of spending increases temporarily declined . Then he went full tilt into reckless spending mode again.

We pay for it now with high priced fueled by decreased value of the currency . This is be exasperated because the ominibus infusion of monopoly money will force the Fed to continue to jack up interest rates which in turn will guarantee a recession this year.

I rate the prospect of reducing the debt to manageable levels ; and living within our means right up there with the prospect of having fair elections in the future . Not happening

[jlisenbe]

I rate the prospect of reducing the debt to manageable levels ; and living within our means right up there with the prospect of having fair elections in the future . Not happening

It's like jumping out of an airplane. The question to be answered is what kind of landing do you want? Having one is inevitable, so it's best to prepare for a soft one. We, of course, along with most of the West, are jumping with no chute.