The Biden administration is running one of the most audacious vote-buying schemes in political history — and almost no one is talking about it.
Seniors got some seemingly welcome news late last month when the Biden-Harris Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that “average premiums, benefits, and plan choices for Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Part D prescription drug program are expected to remain stable in 2025.” The agency press release specifically pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act “and other new enhancements to the programs” as the reason why seniors’ out-of-pocket costs are expected to remain largely the same next year.
But that analysis is dishonest to the point of being farcical.
In reality, the Inflation Reduction Act stole $230 billion from Medicare beneficiaries to fund the Biden-Harris administration’s climate agenda. One of the major provisions in the act gives the government the power to “negotiate” (read: fix) prescription drug prices. These “savings” are then diverted from Medicare to unrelated initiatives such as electric vehicle tax credits and charging stations.
But those savings aren’t really savings at all — the costs Medicare isn’t paying will be passed on directly to Medicare recipients in the form of premium rate hikes. In other words, seniors struggling to make ends meet will pay more out of pocket for prescription drugs so that wealthy elites can enjoy thousands of dollars off on their new electric cars.
As the Wall Street Journal editorial board recently pointed out, Medicare premiums were expected to skyrocket by hundreds of dollars in 2025 thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s price-fixing scheme. Seniors were set to be notified of the increases in mid-October, right before they head to the polls.
So, what is a Democratic administration to do when the entirely predictable consequences of its ill-advised policies get in the way of reelection?
The answer, in this case, was something called a “demonstration project.” It’s an obscure rule that allows CMS to give money to insurers on a small scale, ostensibly to test new payment models.
But the Biden-Harris administration’s demonstration project is hardly small scale. The White House advertises that it will cost $5 billion. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says it could really cost up to $21 billion over three years.
In essence, Democrats are using temporary, and possibly illegal, accounting tricks to hold back the flood of premium rate hikes until after November’s election. It’s a blatant attempt by the Biden-Harris administration to use taxpayer dollars to win support from seniors, which is exactly why Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has urged the Department of Justice to investigate the scheme as a Hatch Act violation.
But eventually, the bill will come due, and when it does, seniors will be stuck paying the price for the Inflation Reduction Act’s green subsidies and the Biden-Harris administration’s cynical ploy to buy off insurers in an election year.
In fact, in spite of the Biden-Harris administration’s best efforts, many seniors are already feeling the pinch from the Inflation Reduction Act. The average monthly premium for Medicare Part D plans increased by 21% in 2024, the largest single-year increase ever.
Moreover, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the monthly premium for the most popular Part D stand-alone drug plan is increasing by $17. Premiums for at least eight popular prescription drug plans will increase by a staggering $35 per month in 2025, or $420 per year.
The second most popular Part D prescription drug plan won’t even be offered nationwide anymore next year, highlighting another glaring problem with the act’s price-fixing scheme. There were already nearly 100 fewer stand-alone prescription drug plans in 2024 than in 2023. In total, the number of prescription drug plans available to the average beneficiary is down 25%, reaching the lowest number on record. The Biden-Harris administration’s Medicare rewrite is leaving seniors with fewer choices, leading to worse health outcomes.
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These are just the start of the disastrous consequences of the Inflation Reduction Act. Medicare enrollees now also will face burdensome new pre-approval requirements for medications, further restricting access. According to a University of Chicago study, 135 fewer life-saving drugs will be developed over the next 15 years as a result of the law. Dozens of research projects have already been abandoned since President Joe Biden signed the act.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s CMS is attempting to hide all of this from voters — and seniors in particular. So, while Harris and the Democratic Party tout the act as the centerpiece of their 2024 election campaign, voters ought to remember who has to foot the bill.
Rebecca Weber is the CEO of the Association of Mature American Citizens.