Senior Advocates Say Inflation Reduction Act Could Help Cut Medicare Costs

A proposal in a US senate bill could cut costs on senior healthcare in a major way.

The Inflation Reduction Act covers a lot more than Medicare, but that part alone could mean huge savings for seniors.

The proposal also has support from key holdouts in the Senate, giving many hope it'll pass.

Max Richtman, the president and CEO of National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said high costs have been a problem for years.

“The refrain that we hear over and over again is, ‘We cannot afford the medicine we need to stay alive,'" he said.

Instead of forcing seniors to skip days or cut pills in half to make medicine last longer, the Inflation Reduction Act proposes cutting costs.

“Almost one in four seniors don’t take prescribed drugs fully because they can’t afford it," said Richard Fiesta, the executive director of Alliance for Retired Americans. “Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world.”

Sean Voskuhl, the state director of AARP Oklahoma said the proposal, with support from key Senator Joe Manchin, gives Medicare the ability to negotiate prices it pays for some prescriptions.

“Holding drug companies accountable when they increase drug prices faster than the rate of inflation," he said. “The cost of prescription drugs has outpaced inflation more than twice the amount in 2020 ... They charge more for Americans than they do to other people who buy the same drugs in other countries.”

Not only would it bring prices down to a fair-market level, but it would also cap the out-of-pocket costs seniors on Medicare pay at $2,000 per year.

Proponents say the cost cutting could save the government $300 billion over 10 years.

“If this happens, and I’m hoping it does, the winners are seniors on Medicare, and the federal government. And when the government saves that much money, the taxpayers save that much money," Richtman said.

The bill also proposes lowering energy costs, carbon emissions and Affordable Care Act premiums for millions of Americans.