House Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK) told Breitbart News that President Joe Biden’s policies are leading to ever increasing healthcare costs for seniors.
Hern 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.” Eleven sponsors are offering 709 plans, which represents the lowest number of plans and sponsors since Medicare Part D began in 2006.
The spike in Medicare Part D premiums follow as Biden purchased ads across battleground states starting in November, touting his efforts to allegedly lower healthcare costs. He principally touted his efforts to cap the price of insulin at $35 and that Medicare would negotiate with drug companies for lower drug prices, as stipulated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
However, as Citeline reported, the IRA’s effects have already led to the spike in premiums for Medicare Part D, an increasingly popular option with American seniors:
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.
Hern, the chair of the RSC, a Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health member, said that Biden’s policies will impact seniors the most.
“We were always concerned the IRA would cause exactly this problem. Democrats love to tout these “drug price savings” when in reality, they’re raising costs in other parts of the healthcare market,” he explained to Breitbart News in a written statement. “Seniors are already facing drastic increases in the cost of living thanks to the Biden Administration, this is just another strain on our seniors that they don’t need. I have strong concerns with how this will impact the development of new drugs – especially for rare diseases, which is near to my heart.”
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said to Breitbart News previously, “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.”
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.
Drug Channels President Adam Fein said that the IRA redesign will lead to the “collapse of the standalone PDP [prescription drug plan] market.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
