Dr. Oz says you don't need it anymore
Jake Johnson for Common Dreams
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS), headed by Mehmet Oz, announced “the conclusion of the Part D Premium
Stabilization Demonstration” for the coming year, just months before the start
of Medicare open enrollment. Oz characterized the
subsidy program as a “bailout”
for insurance companies and said that “premiums will go up by less than $10 for
most Medicare recipients.”
But The Wall Street Journal,
which reported the administration’s move ahead of the public
announcement, noted that nearly half of Medicare Part D plan enrollees would
likely see increases “largely in the $11 to $20 range a month.” The subsidy
program, established in the wake of the Biden-era Inflation
Reduction Act, cut the average Part D premium by more than 25% this year.
Leslie Dach, chair of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said in a statement that President Donald Trump and his Republican allies “continue to force seniors to pay more while handing tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.”
“Trump and Republicans are
making healthcare more
expensive for seniors at every turn,” said Dach. “In the middle of a
GOP-induced affordability crisis, they are eliminating a key program that helps
seniors afford their medications, meaning countless seniors will soon pay more
just to get the lifesaving prescriptions they need. For older Americans living
on fixed incomes, even an extra ten or twenty dollars a month can mean choosing
between filling their prescription, paying the electric bill, or buying
groceries. Seniors deserve lower prescription drug costs and affordable
healthcare.”
Around 25 million Americans are enrolled in standalone
prescription drug plans through Medicare Part D, which is offered by private,
Medicare-approved companies. Another 31 million Americans are enrolled in
Medicare Part D via privatized Medicare Advantage plans.
Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of the
Program on Medicare Policy at the nonprofit research group KFF, wrote that
standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans “may soon seem even less
affordable” following the Trump administration’s change, “leading to further
enrollment growth in Medicare Advantage.”
(Prior to becoming head of CMS, Oz was a prominent
booster of Medicare Advantage.)
Each year, millions of people across the US are forced to forgo or ration prescription medications due
to high costs.
Kendall Witmer, rapid response director at the Democratic
National Committee, said the Trump administration’s decision to terminate
the Medicare Part D subsidy program shows that the president and his party “are
doing everything they can to make healthcare unaffordable for Americans,
especially for seniors.”
“Trump and Republicans’ massive healthcare cuts have pushed
working families to the brink as they grapple with skyrocketing insurance
premiums, even bigger medical bills, and rising prescription drug costs,” said
Witmer. “Americans are taking on record amounts of medical debt just to make
ends meet—all while Trump and his family get even richer and his wealthy donors
rake in tax cuts.”
