We have all heard the joke, “I’m from Washington, and I’m here to help.” It is a classic punchline that highlights the ineffectiveness and disastrous intervention of government.
In the case of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), it is right on the money.
The Inflation Reduction Act has been an unmitigated disaster. Far from its name, the law has worsened inflation by squandering billions on progressive initiatives like “Green New Deal” tax credits that ultimately benefit China, electric vehicle giveaways, and increased subsidies to insurance companies and wealthy families enrolled in Obamacare. Moreover, the law imposed new taxes on U.S. businesses, endangering their ability to provide jobs for millions of Americans.
Further, as a political issue, Republicans can make the case that this law was a broken promise to the American people. When we look at the election for president coming down to a handful of votes in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, we see anger in those states centering on kitchen table issues. A June 2024 poll of swing state voters conducted by Ipsos found that inflation and increasing costs are the No. 1 issue with voters in those states.
To make matters worse, the IRA stripped a staggering $300 billion from Medicare to fund President Biden’s pet projects. At a time when numerous seniors are struggling, reducing funds from Medicare for current and soon-to-be retirees is incredibly foolhardy. Congress must allocate the savings in Medicare toward enhancing the program and preventing costly taxpayer-funded bailouts rather than being treated as a slush fund for opponents’ agendas.
Despite Democrats’ claims that changes to Medicare would alleviate financial burdens for Americans at the pharmacy, it appears that the law has made it more challenging for patients to obtain medications. My mother, who is undergoing cancer treatment, is on a fixed income, and the rise in inflation and the increased cost of her prescription is a hardship. She and millions of seniors like her agree the IRA has failed to provide any relief, and the consequences are clear to see.
Progressives proclaimed this jumble of legalese as a benefit to seniors by authorizing government officials to enforce price controls on certain medications covered by Medicare. However, it has had the opposite effect. The IRA has not delivered the promised savings to seniors. Instead, it has increased costs.
Monthly premiums for Medicare Part D drug plans have surged significantly following the implementation of the IRA. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for Medicare prescription drug plans rose by 21 percent in the first year after the law was enacted. The Council for Affordable Health Coverage anticipates a potential additional increase of more than 50 percent next year. At the same time, the number of Part D plan options available to seniors has plummeted.
The IRA also established a costly $3 billion federal bureaucracy, part of the overall goal of putting the federal government in charge of all medical decisions, allowing further government intrusion in decisions that should be left to patients and their healthcare providers. History has shown that imposing price controls rarely achieves the desired outcomes, and the IRA’s price controls are no exception.
The law has inadvertently led to higher premiums for prescription drug coverage rather than enhancing access to affordable medicine for seniors. This unexpected outcome highlights the need for Congress to focus on reducing Medicare premiums, expanding plan choices, and ensuring that insurers and pharmacy benefit managers pass on discounts, rebates and savings to patients. Additionally, lawmakers must examine the practices of foreign countries that buy U.S.-developed medicines at meager prices, leaving American patients to bear the burden.
Given the detrimental effects of the IRA, meaningful, market-based reforms must be implemented for the betterment of all Americans.
Reprinted with permission from DC Journal by Leif Larson.
This is another of how everything government touches makes things WORSE, not better.
Hmmm. Old news that has been discussed and run into the ground.
Liberals are very good at putting lipstick on a pig, just like they sugarcoated a dung heap of a bill and falsely named it the inflation reduction act.
Every action taken by this, the most corrupt, criminal, treasonous administration in this nation’s history, was intended to hurt the citizens.
of course it does. everythign dmeocrats do hurts Americans and especially the middle class.
If you vote democrat you are a moron.
The IRA took $ 300 billion from Medicare. The Affordable Care Act took money from Medicare. No wonder that Medicare is going broke.
Both my husband and we avoid prescription drugs az much as possible. We’re retired, but the inflation is so bad, I’ll have to go back to work… No matter how much we skimp, we’re out about 1000 dollars a month so we’re going through our savings FAST! We can thank Biden for that. Hope I find the strength to do it.
The Inflation Reduction Act that has little to do with inflation didn’t work; big shock! The first clue it won’t work is they keep calling these things the opposite of what they actually do.
World Atlas (as of 2024) says: 46.50 % of US is Protestant with the remaining religions (53.50%) scattered over 12 classifications; the largest of which is apparently, Roman Catholic 20.80%) with Muslim at less than 1% (.90%). If we lose our freedom we’ll know where to look. Please vote. It’s only a lost cause if you listen to the minority. Please vote.
No one seems to be aware or even care that the Social Security Act of 2024 eliminated the long-standing spousal survival benefit of getting the higher of the two social security payments as a survival benefit. I’m 75 and my spouse is 66. I waited till 70 to take social security because of the spousal rules in place for decades. We are both on social security. Suddenly out of nowhere, the decades old rule is eliminated. The new ruling is that both spouses must be 70 as of 2024 to be eligible for the decades old rule. That crushes our retirement planning for my spouse. The new plan basically eliminates spousal survival benefits. We lost a significant benefit. Why did AMAC and AARP allow this to happen? Are there more benefits going to be eliminated that AMAC and AARP are just going to let happen without a fight to defend our social security benefits. I feel AMAC as well as AARP let us down and are simply ignoring the that our social security benefits are under attack. They got away with this without even a fight – what’s next.
I am not calling them democrats any more
I am calling them socialists
……and the leaders are BHO, bernie sanders and the squad
Having retired somewhat comfortably a few years ago at 68 and my wife who is working to reach her full retirement age while providing our health insurance coverage. This has been about what we had planned as we moved toward life’s twilight.
We have saved, made good decisions with our money, contributed to our multiple IRA’s, etc… and also received some inheritance’s in recent years at the cost of losing our parents and other loved family members.
Our concern at this point is that any serious health issue(s) could potentially burn through much of what we thought was a fairly nice nest egg basket for our remaining future and we want to pass on our good fortunes to our children and grand children as our parents/extended family did for us.
Should a continued depressing economy occur with another 4 years of democratic elitism’s in power we may be hard pressed just to live long enough for the next election cycle.