Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) told Breitbart News in an exclusive comment on Friday that Medicare Part D premiums, along with nearly everything else in America, have skyrocketed thanks to “Bidenomics.”
Guthrie, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, spoke to Breitbart News as Medicare Part D premiums for 2024 have risen by 21 percent compared to 2023. For the three “leading plan sponsors, Cigna, Humana, and Aetna premiums have reportedly surged between 33 and 57 percent.
The Kentucky conservative blamed “Bidenomics” for the skyrocketing Medicare Part D premiums.
“Thanks to Bidenomics, the price of nearly all goods has gone through the roof. Medicare Part D premiums are no exception. In 2024, Part D premiums increased by an estimated 21% for plan year 2024, resulting from the partisan Inflation Reduction Act,” Guthrie said in a written statement to Breitbart News.
Eleven sponsors are offering 709 plans, which represents the lowest number of plans and sponsors since Medicare Part D began in 2006.
The increase in premiums follow as Democrats passed the partisan and so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which Breitbart News reported in August 2022 would result in a reduction in seniors’ Medicare prescription drug benefits.
Citeline reported about the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act impact on Medicare Part D:
The premium increase is driven by higher expected plan costs in 2024, resulting at least in part from a new cap on enrollees’ out-of-pocket spending above the catastrophic threshold that eliminates the 5% coinsurance previously required.
Premium hikes were implemented by the major plans despite a provision in the IRA that attempted to head off such a response, which caps annual premium increases at 6%. However, the cap applies to growth in the Part D base beneficiary premium and not to individual plan premiums that enrollees pay, which has allowed increases that exceed 6%.
The decrease in the number of standalone plans available likely reflects decisions by sponsors to discontinue plans that would not meet profit goals. At the same time, premiums remained stable in Medicare Advantage plans with a drug benefit in 2024 because MA-PD sponsors can use rebate dollars from Medicare payments to lower or eliminate Part D premiums in a way that is not available to PDPs.
Joe Grogan, the former Trump White House Domestic Policy Council director, said, “There are a lot of plans that are finding it’s not going to be profitable for them to do this.”
“Certain plans are increasing premiums of various designs by double-digits. And there are going to be issues for seniors on a fixed budget in an inflationary environment” that will influence “how much uptake [those plans] have. … Some of them may drop the independent Part D coverage,” he added.
Grogan added, saying he is “increasingly confident, the more payers I talk to, the more plans I talk to, and the more economists that really understand this, that the destabilization that was warned when [the IRA] it was passed is actually coming to fruition and there are a host of unintended consequences.”
Drug Channels President Adam Fein said that the IRA redesign will lead to the “collapse of the standalone PDP [prescription drug plan] market.”
“It’s really going to hit in 2025,” but “we’re already seeing it in 2024,” Fein said.
He added, “If you think you’ve seen a shift from PDPs to Medicare Advantage, you ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s going to ramp up dramatically, especially with premium increases like this.”
Guthrie concluded in his statement, “The IRA has already had a chilling effect on investments in life-saving cures and we’re now seeing it’s led to less options for seniors seeking Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, as well as higher monthly costs for seniors. I’m committed to working on behalf of seniors to bring down their health care costs without reducing access to care, unlike Biden’s Washington-knows-best policies that have raised costs and reduced cures for our vulnerable communities.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
