Medicare Premiums To Spike After Biden-Harris ‘Raided’ Fund For Green New Deal: Report

President Joe Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and a majority of Democrats, is reportedly burdening Medicare recipients with increased premiums as their administration winds down, according to a Friday report.

During the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration, when Democrats held control of Congress, they pushed through the trillion-dollar “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA). This legislation included hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives, passing with Harris casting the decisive tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

That action, as noted by the Western Journal, “ignited a chain reaction that led to higher Medicare costs for America’s senior citizens.”

Ron Fitzwater, CEO of the Missouri Pharmacy Association, highlighted the ramifications in an opinion piece for the Missouri Times, writing:

“Nearly two years after its passage, the IRA has diverted nearly $260 billion from the projected Medicare ‘savings’ to pay for special interest handouts like large tax credits for costly electric vehicles, enormous subsidies paid to big health insurer-PBM corporations, and funding health care programs for illegal immigrants.”

Fitzwater criticized the administration further, asserting: “The Biden-Harris administration is not protecting Medicare; they’re stealing from it.”

This issue is particularly concerning as Medicare’s financial stability has been on a path toward insolvency for years.

Politico reported that the administration is “doling out” billions to insurance companies ahead of the election to mitigate the impact of upcoming premium hikes for Medicare recipients starting next year. The report detailed a program that grants insurers an additional $15 per member monthly, among other adjustments. Republicans have criticized the move as a “cynical ploy” to avoid negative headlines before the November election.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, described the approach as “using the federal treasury for political advantage,” telling the outlet:

“This is a way for the executive branch to implement a policy which has very positive political ramifications for them, but with very sketchy legal standing. The Treasury is going to borrow more money to do this. I don’t see them as being particularly hyper-aware of the potential cost of all this. I don’t think it matters to them, but it should matter to us as taxpayers.”

In his Op-Ed, Fitzwater pointed out that Medicare increases were as high as 179 percent in some cases, estimating that “all told, that puts the entire IRA raid on Medicare at well over $330 billion.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial board also weighed in, explaining how the IRA’s adjustments to Medicare have significantly impacted pharmaceutical companies.

“The IRA let Medicare ‘negotiate’ prices for 10 to 20 drugs a year and a total of 60 by 2029. Negotiate is a euphemism for extortion: Drug makers that don’t participate or reject the government’s price face a daily excise tax that starts at 186% and climbs to 1,900% of a drug’s daily revenue,” the editorial stated.

It also noted that manufacturers are now required to pay the government rebates on drugs sold to Medicare if price increases exceed inflation rates, along with shouldering more of Medicare Part D’s costs. These “savings,” estimated at around $160 billion, were redirected to fund green energy projects under the IRA.

“But subsidized solar panels won’t help if you get sick. The inevitable, albeit invisible, result of Democrats’ raid on pharmaceutical companies will be fewer new medicines,” the WSJ concluded.