Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare is better than ever and seniors can get their shingles shots and all other vaccines recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, such as COVID-19, RSV, and the flu, for free. Prior to the Inflation Reduction Act, seniors could be forced to spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket for these vaccines, contributing to particularly low vaccination rates for low-income seniors, seniors of color, and rural seniors. The Inflation Reduction Act also brought down the cost of prescription medications for seniors on Medicare by capping insulin costs at $35 per month, limiting outrageous price hikes, and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies.
This is just the beginning: In 2025, seniors’ total drug costs will be capped at $2,000 per year and, in 2026, new savings from Medicare’s drug price negotiation will take effect. Together, these provisions will save seniors thousands of dollars on prescription drugs.
BY THE NUMBERS
50.5 million American seniors can get their shingles vaccine free of cost, including over 9 million Medicare beneficiaries under 65 with disabilities, 15 million beneficiaries of color, and millions of rural beneficiaries.
Seniors will save up to $424 on their two-part shingles shots.
84.5 millionMedicaid recipients will also benefit from increased access to vaccinations.
Seniors Will Continue To Save Hundreds On Their Shingles Vaccine. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, 50.5 million seniors are saving up to hundreds of dollars when getting vaccinated against shingles. With a single shot of Shingrix costing $212, seniors on Medicare Part D are saving over $400 on average on vaccinations. The cost of the shingles vaccine has been a driving factor in keeping vaccination rates especially low for the Black and Latino communities. This will level the playing field for seniors on Medicare, given that Americans on private insurance typically can get their shingles vaccines at no cost.
33 Percent of Americans Will Develop Shingles In Their Lifetime. Shingles is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus, typically occurring in adults older than 50 years old. Symptoms include a painful rash, itching, fever, headache, chills, and nausea. The risk of shingles increases with age, making it paramount for vaccinations to be available and accessible. While complications or death from shingles is not common, seniors with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable, with 30 percent of shingles hospitalizations occurring within this population.
Required Vaccine Coverage For Medicaid Recipients Will Benefit Nearly 85 Million Americans. The Inflation Reduction Act also required state Medicaid and CHIP programs to cover vaccines recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for no out-of-pocket costs. This allowed an estimated 4 million adults to gain access to shingles vaccines that didn’t previously have access before. Accessible vaccinations will particularly help low-income families on Medicaid, many of whom are people of color and people with disabilities, to help prevent illness and related work absences.
New Report Finds That If All States Achieved Results Like Those in the 10 Best States, 4.5 Million People Would Not Have Been Disenrolled from Medicaid for Paperwork Reasons
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representative and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford and U.S Representative and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Member Jill Tokuda joined leaders of civil rights and health equity organizations including Protect Our Care for a press call releasing a new report detailing how six months after Medicaid’s pandemic-era continuous coverage requirement ended, millions of people in America are being needlessly disenrolled from critical health care coverage because of missed paperwork, creating an avoidable civil rights and health equity disaster.
According to the report, more people and more children have lost Medicaid in just six months of unwinding than during any two-year period in American history. The report estimates that more than half of families terminated from Medicaid come from communities of color, including 2.3 million Latinos, 1.8 million African Americans, 400,000 Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and more than 400,000 Native Americans, During the call, speakers called on state leaders to halt procedural disenrollments until they make major reforms that cut such disenrollments to the lowest achievable level.
The report finds that 10 million people have been disenrolled from Medicaid – more than 70% of whom were terminated for nothing more than missing paperwork. If all states performed as well as the states with the lowest rates of procedural disenrollment, two-thirds of procedural terminations would have been prevented, and 4.5 million people would not have been terminated because of missing paperwork.
Last month, the Biden administration took an important step to address this crisis by requiring states to restore Medicaid to 500,000 people – mostly children – known to have been wrongly terminated. However, state leaders must make further major reforms to ensure that only people known to be ineligible are terminated from Medicaid.
The report is co-authored by the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the National Urban League, the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, UnidosUS, the Coalition on Human Needs, and Protect Our Care.
“We cannot afford to roll back the hard-fought progress we have made on Medicaid, which has helped to narrow racial disparities in health coverage and provide much-needed access to life-saving care in communities of color,” said U.S. Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV-04), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “As a result of Medicaid “unwinding”, nearly 1.8 million Black Americans’ Medicaid coverage has been terminated in the last six months because of missing paperwork, which will only exacerbate existing disparities in access to health care for communities that we serve. The CBC joins our Tri-Caucus colleagues in calling for states to significantly cut rates of procedural terminations by renewing eligible families’ coverage and placing terminations on hold where possible, and by ensuring that beneficiaries have the necessary tools to complete their paperwork needed to determine their eligibility.”
“This report shows what we feared: since the end of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement, we’ve seen one of the largest losses of health insurance coverage in American history,” said U.S. Representative Nanette Barragán (D-CA-44), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “Millions of Americans, including almost 5 million Latinos, were able to access life-saving health insurance coverage because of the continuous coverage requirement. Now that the requirement has ended, millions of people and especially communities of color, are at risk of losing their health coverage. It’s critical that state leaders take all possible steps to minimize loss of coverage, including by pausing procedural disenrollments as soon as possible. We cannot allow more low-income communities to be left behind. While the Biden Administration has provided states guidance and flexibilities to address this crisis, states must do more to protect families from wrongfully losing Medicaid coverage.”
“As an executive board member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the co-chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Caucus, I know that access to health care is a matter of life and death for our communities of color across the country,” said U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (D-HI-02), Member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “For too long, black and brown people have been disproportionally represented when it comes both to loss of Medicaid and negative health outcomes due to lack of health access. A majority of Hawaiʻi residents are AANHPI, and I have been particularly concerned about Medicaid redeterminations for our AANHPI communities. There is an ongoing need for in-language materials, community navigators, and outreach from trusted messengers to ensure AANHPI individuals can get the health services and resources they need and in a culturally competent manner. We need to meet patients where they are at. And in doing so, we can improve health outcomes and lower healthcare costs.”
“Advocates and lawmakers alike have been sounding the alarm about Medicaid Unwinding for over a year, urging states to lead and act promptly to preserve health coverage for millions of vulnerable families and children,” said Juliet K. Choi, President and CEO of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum. “Communities of color, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, are losing life-saving care due to administrative blunders and bureaucracy. We continue to call upon the Biden-Harris administration to act, and on states to mobilize the resources necessary to make sure no family or child is left behind.”
“It is a sad reality that it took a global pandemic for our nation’s elected leadership to expand life-saving healthcare services to hardworking Americans,” said Derrick Johnson, NAACP President & CEO. “The fact of the matter is, our healthcare system has long failed our most vulnerable. This data is further proof that the procedural disenrollment process is steeped in racism. We will not stand by while millions within our community are once again left without a lifeline. The NAACP stands with UnidosUS and other leading civil rights organizations to call for an immediate pause on all procedural Medicaid disenrollments. Our state leaders must make every effort to re-enroll those who have lost coverage, leveraging available data to verify eligibility or providing readily accessible support to complete the paperwork needed to confirm eligibility.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare inequities in our healthcare system that have plagued the nation, particularly communities of color, for decades,” said Shavon Arline-Bradley, President and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women. “The termination of Medicaid benefitting our children, seniors, and qualified individuals prioritizes procedure over progress. While some states have gotten it right, we call on those states and their lawmakers that have allowed wrongful Medicaid disenrollment to not sit idly by while the constituents that elected them to office go without the critical care they need and deserve. As this comprehensive report shows, the state of health care is in crisis, and this must be reversed immediately.”
“The Medicaid redetermination is proving to be perilous for communities of color, who are disproportionately losing coverage for red tape reasons,” said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. “We support the Biden-Harris administration’s actions to enforce the law and call on states to do more to protect their people from becoming uninsured.”
“We are witnessing the deepest and steepest losses in Medicaid insurance coverage in our nation’s history,” said Eric Rodriguez, Senior Vice President, Policy and Advocacy at UnidosUS. “Many have been dropped from Medicaid due to nothing more than missing paperwork and red tape. Communities of color — including 2.3 million Latinos — are bearing the brunt of those losses, making health care unaffordable for them and deepening already serious health inequities across the country. The report finds that most of those that have lost Medicaid health insurance coverage may have still been eligible and that despite having the funds, state leaders did not invest the money needed to protect families from being unjustly dropped from the program.”
“It is unacceptable that millions of Americans are losing life-saving health care because of preventable paperwork issues,” said Leslie Dach, Founder and Chair of Protect Our Care. “Many of the states that are failing to keep people covered, like Texas, Georgia, and Florida, are the same ones that have rejected Medicaid expansion, leaving families with no place to turn for basic health care. If those states continue on the path of refusing to protect families who rely on Medicaid coverage, the consequences will be devastating, particularly for communities of color and children. Losing access to health care means people won’t get the care they need to stay healthy and thrive, often having to make difficult choices between visiting the doctor or keeping a roof over their heads. While the Biden administration has taken a number of important steps to address this crisis, these states must do more to protect families and stop inappropriately kicking people off Medicaid.”
“The nation’s Medicaid program is vital to the health and well-being of individuals and communities,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the SPLC Action Fund. “It is incredibly alarming that nearly 10 million people — including millions of children — have been terminated from this program largely because of unnecessary red tape. These ‘procedural’ terminations cause harm, especially to communities of color and children. They also deepen the current healthcare crisis in our Deep South states that have not yet expanded the program. Driving hundreds of thousands of people into not having health coverage is unacceptable and states must do more.”
“It is extremely troubling that some states are dropping huge numbers of people from their Medicaid programs because of bureaucratic hurdles, without even knowing whether they remain eligible,” saidDeborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs. “States with records so much worse than better-performing states should be required to pause terminations while they improve their systems.”
“The report highlights the disproportionate impact Medicaid unwinding is having on Native communities,” said Francys Crevier (Algonquin), CEO of the National Council of Urban Indian Health. “Medicaid and CHIP coverage are critical to fulfilling the United States’ trust responsibility to maintain and improve Native health, as inadequate insurance coverage is a significant barrier to healthcare access for Native people. Eligible Native children and families are losing coverage for administrative reasons and the federal government has a trust obligation and must do more to protect them.”
“Medicaid pandemic coverage protections were a lifeline for people who struggled to pay all their bills, helping them to see a doctor if they were sick, or get other vitally necessary health care,” said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Since pandemic coverage expired six months ago, we’ve seen the steepest Medicaid coverage losses in history. Make no mistake. Losing Medicaid coverage is losing that lifeline. Those losses have been disproportionately borne by the communities our coalition represents, including people of color, people with disabilities, children, older adults, low-wage workers, and so many others. This deepens and compounds unfair differences in who can and who can’t get the medical care they need. We urge state leaders to do everything in their power to keep eligible folks covered and prevent further catastrophe that is a deep problem for a country that once made great strides on civil rights.”
Director of the Center for Medicare Dr. Meena Seshamani, Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, Pima County District 5 Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, Assemblyman Duy Nguyen, and HHS Regional Director Dr. Reynoso Will Headline Events in 3 States to Educate Seniors About Lower Drug Prices
Washington, D.C. — On the third week of the “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour, Protect Our Care’s Medicare-A-Van will make stops in 3 states to educate seniors across the nation about new benefits thanks to legislation signed into law last year by President Biden. As seniors begin to enroll in their 2024 Medicare plans, they could save thousands of dollars on their prescription drug costs, with even more savings down the road. Over three weeks, Protect Our Care will travel to more than 10 states, make more than 25 stops, and travel over 7,000 miles.
The tour will highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act, including:
Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices
A $35 monthly copay cap on insulin
Free shingles and other essential vaccinations
$2,000 out-of-pocket caps on prescription drugs beginning in 2025
For more information on why “Medicare is Better Than Ever,” read more here.
MONDAY
PHOENIX, ARIZONA: WHO: Dr. Meena Seshamani, Director, Center for Medicare, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Steve Gallardo, Supervisor, Maricopa County District 5 Mike Renaud, President and CEO, Valle del Sol Community Health Center Linda Somo, Alliance for Retired Americans Marshall Militano, storyteller
WHERE: Central Phoenix Valle del Sol Community Health Center, 3807 N 7th St, Phoenix, AZ 85014
WHEN: Monday, November 6, 2023 at 9:30 AM MT // 11:30 AM ET
TUSCAN, ARIZONA: WHO: Dr. Meena Seshamani, Director, Center for Medicare, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Adelita Grijalva, Supervisor and Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Pima County District 5 Dr. Matt Heinz, Supervisor, Pima County District 2 Mimi Coomler, CEO, Tucson Medical Center Linda Khumalo, Medicare Program Coordinator, Pima Council on Aging
WHERE: Tucson City Hall, 255 W Alameda St, Tucson, AZ 85701
WHEN: Monday, November 6, 2023 at 1:00 PM MT // 3:00 PM ET
TUESDAY
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: WHO: Assemblyman Duy Nguyen
WHERE: Las Vegas Integrative Medicine Clinic, 2940 S. Jones Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89146
WHEN: Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET
WEDNESDAY
RENO, NEVADA: WHO: Shuyi Huang, Family Services Manager, Asian Community Development Council Robin Pulido, storyteller Patty Machal, storyteller
WHERE: Wat Buddhapradeep Temple, 1100 12th St, Sparks, NV 89431
WHEN: Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 10:00 AM PT // 1:00 PM ET
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA:
WHO: HHS Regional Director Dr. Jeffrey Reynoso, Region 9 Kevin Wren, storyteller
WHERE: West Side of Capitol Building, 10th St, Sacramento, CA 95814
WHEN: Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 3:00 PM PT // 6:00 PM ET
THURSDAY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: WHO: Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley Naida Tushnet, storyteller Jessica Nunez, Latino Coalition of LA
WHERE: Laguna Hills Community Center, 25555 Alicia Pkwy, Laguna Hills, CA 92653
WHEN: Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 10:15 AM PT // 1:15 PM ET
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: WHO: Carlsbad Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel, City Council Member
WHERE: Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine Ave, Carlsbad, CA 92008
WHEN: Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 2:30 PM PT // 5:30 PM ET
***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6 AT 3:00 PM ET // 12:00 PM PT***
New Report Finds That If All States Did as Well as the 10 Best States, Millions of People Would Not Have Been Terminated from Medicaid Because of Missing Paperwork
Washington, DC – On Monday, November 6, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET // 12:00 PM PT, U.S. Representatives Steven Horsford (D-NV-04) and Jill Tokuda (D-HI-02), will join civil rights leaders and Protect Our Care for a press conference to call on state leaders to halt procedural disenrollments from Medicaid until they have reduced such terminations to the lowest achievable level. Over 70% of those disenrolled were terminated because of nothing more than missing paperwork. The groups will release a new report detailing how, only six months into the unwinding of the pandemic-era Medicaid continuous eligibility requirements, more people have lost Medicaid than during any two-year period in history, more than have of whom are from communities of color. The report will provide the country’s first documentation of several things: (1) the size of current coverage losses, compared to past losses; (2) the racial and ethnic composition of people terminated from Medicaid; and (3) the central importance of state variation in driving Medicaid terminations.
Congress passed legislation at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect access to Medicaid by ensuring no one could be disenrolled during the public health emergency. This provision, which has helped secure the lowest level of uninsured Americans ever, expired on April 1.
The report is co-authored by 10 leading civil rights and health equity organizations: the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Urban League, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the Southern Poverty Law Center, UnidosUS, the Coalition on Human Needs, and Protect Our Care.
PRESS CALL:
WHO: U.S. Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV-04), Chair, Congressional Black Caucus U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (D-HI-02), Member, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Juliet K. Choi, President and CEO, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Shavon Arline-Bradley, President and CEO, National Council of Negro Women Marc Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League Eric Rodriguez, Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at UnidosUS Leslie Dach, Chair, Protect Our Care
HHS Regional Director, State and City Officials Headlined “Medicare is Better Than Ever” Tour Events to Educate Seniors About Lower Drug Prices
On the second week of Protect Our Care’s 7,000-mile “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour, the Medicare-A-Van made stops in three states to educate seniors across the nation about new benefits thanks to legislation signed into law last year by President Biden. As seniors begin to enroll in their 2024 Medicare plans, they could save thousands of dollars on their prescription drug costs, with even more savings down the road.
During each stop, local elected officials, health care advocates, and storytellers discussed how the Inflation Reduction Act will improve care and lower costs for American seniors. Protect Our Care also made headlines across the nation educating seniors on the new benefits under the Inflation Reduction Act, including free vaccines, $35 insulin caps, protections from outrageous price hikes, and lower drug costs thanks to Medicare negotiation.
Next week, the tour continues in Arizona, Nevada, and California. Over three weeks, the Medicare-A-Van will travel to more than 10 states, make more than 25 stops, and travel over 7,000 miles.
Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed joined Protect Our Care’s “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour with health care advocates at Ralph Sampson Park in Harrisonburg to highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower premiums and prescription drug costs.
Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea and Delegate Sam Rasoul joined Protect Our Care’s “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour with health care advocates at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Roanoke to highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower premiums and prescription drug costs.
Coverage:
WDBJ (CBS): Medicare is Better Than Ever Tour Stops in Roanoke
State Representative Sarah Crawford joined Protect Our Care’s “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour with health care advocates at Moore Square Park in Raleigh to highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower premiums and prescription drug costs.
Coverage:
WNCN (CBS) The Medicare is Better than Ever Van Tour comes to Raleigh
Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson joined Protect Our Care’s “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour with health care advocates at City Center Park in Greensboro to highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower premiums and prescription drug costs.
HHS Regional Director Antrell Tyson headlined Protect Our Care’s “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour with state officials and health care advocates at the H.J.C. Bowden Senior Multipurpose Facility in East Point to highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower premiums and prescription drug costs.
HHS Regional Director Antrell Tyson, Demetrius E. McCoy with DeKalb Commissioner Mereda Johnson’s office and Kathy Register with Congressman Hank Johnson’s office joined Protect Our Care’s “Medicare is Better Than Ever” tour and health care advocates at the Lou Walker Senior Center in Stonecrest to highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower premiums and prescription drug costs.
***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6 AT 3:00 PM ET // 12:00 PM PT***
New Report Finds That If All States Did as Well as the 10 Best States, Millions of People Would Not Have Been Terminated from Medicaid Because of Missing Paperwork
Washington, DC – On Monday, November 6, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET // 12:00 PM PT, civil rights leaders will join Protect Our Care for a press conference to call on state leaders to halt procedural disenrollments from Medicaid until they have reduced such terminations to the lowest achievable level. Over 70% of those disenrolled were terminated because of nothing more than missing paperwork. The groups will release a new report detailing how, only six months into the unwinding of the pandemic-era Medicaid continuous eligibility requirements, more people have lost Medicaid than during any two-year period in history, more than have of whom are from communities of color. The report will provide the country’s first documentation of several things: (1) the size of current coverage losses, compared to past losses; (2) the racial and ethnic composition of people terminated from Medicaid; and (3) the central importance of state variation in driving Medicaid terminations.
Congress passed legislation at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect access to Medicaid by ensuring no one could be disenrolled during the public health emergency. This provision, which has helped secure the lowest level of uninsured Americans ever, expired on April 1.
The report is co-authored by 10 leading civil rights and health equity organizations: the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Urban League, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the Southern Poverty Law Center, UnidosUS, the Coalition on Human Needs, and Protect Our Care.
PRESS CALL:
WHO:
Juliet K. Choi, President and CEO, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Shavon Arline-Bradley, President and CEO, National Council of Negro Women Marc Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League Eric Rodriguez, Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at UnidosUS Leslie Dach, Chair, Protect Our Care
Astellas announced it raked in $5.07 billion this quarter – a $32 million increase over last year – during their earnings report today. While they make billions, Americans pay exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs. Astellas opposes the Biden administration reforms that lower prescription drug prices.
During the call, CEO Naoki Okamura bragged: “We will achieve significant growth in revenue and profits towards 2025. This initial plan hasn’t been changed and we will continue to aim to achieve our goals.”
Astellas announced it rewarded its shareholders by paying a dividend in September at a rate 15 percent higher than the previous year.
Astellas was a part of the lawsuit against the Biden administration to stop Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for patients because it would endanger their massive profits, but voluntarily dismissed after their products were not among the first ten drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation.
In July, Astellas also completed its acquisition of Iveric Bio, a drug manufacturer specializing in ophthalmology treatments. Drug companies erroneously claim Medicare negotiation will threaten investment in innovative drugs, but Astellas is betting an expanded drug portfolio will be good for their bottom line; Astellas paid $5.9 billion for Iveric.
Drug companies charge Americans prices up to four times higher than prices in other countries, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses to make ends meet.
Over 80 percent of voters support giving Medicare the power to negotiate, making it the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act brings down prescription drug costs for everyday Americans, especially seniors, by capping the price of insulin at $35 per month and providing free vaccines including shingles, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and limiting the amount people have to pay each year for prescription drugs to $2,000 annually starting in 2025.
Washington, D.C. — Today, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joined Protect Our Care at the Legal Aid Justice Center, an ENROLL Virginia! site, to mark the first day of the 2024 Affordable Care Act open enrollment period. At the event, Secretary Becerra and health care advocates encouraged Americans to sign up for quality, affordable coverage during open enrollment. Last year, a record-breaking 16.3 million people signed up for coverage through the ACA marketplaces, including around 3.6 million new enrollees.
The Biden-Harris administration has expanded premium tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act, made historic investments in the Navigator program, and fixed the family glitch – all of which have expanded access to affordable coverage. Now, 80% of people can find coverage through the Marketplace for $10 or less, putting money back in the pockets of hardworking Americans. These changes have also increased the number of people of color with health coverage, which is essential to reducing racial disparities in health and economic outcomes.
“When the President campaigned, that’s what he promised: Lower costs, better care for more people. And he has delivered,” said Secretary Xavier Becerra of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “There are more than 300 million Americans today who have access to a doctor today because they have their own insurance. The reason we broke records is because we reached out to the communities that have been left behind. And, now we can get so many of the people who no longer qualify to keep their insurance coverage through Medicaid. Health insurance coverage is peace of mind.”
“President Biden and Democrats in Congress have fought tirelessly to make health care more affordable for the American people,” said Leslie Dach, Founder and Chair of Protect Our Care. “Now, families are saving thousands, giving them peace of mind and more room to pay for other necessities like food, gas, and rent. This year, open enrollment is especially important for families who may have lost Medicaid coverage in recent months due to the end of the pandemic requirements. Now, they along with millions of Americans can get quality health care through the ACA at little to no cost.”
“We all know that access to affordable and effective health care is essential for thriving and surviving,” said Angela Ciolfi, Executive Director of Legal Aid Justice Center. “But that access has always been most challenging for low-income communities of color, nationwide. Now that the pandemic relief has ended, and we’re rolling back some basic benefits, like the expanded Medicaid, it has never been more important to connect people to all available lifelines.”
“It is an especially momentous day,” said Deepak Madala, Director of the Center for Healthy Communities and ENROLL Virginia!, Virginia Poverty Law Center. “More than 85 percent of Virginians qualify for assistance. There are a lot of options in Virginia because of the Affordable Care Act. I encourage everyone to go to the marketplace, check out their plans, and see if there’s a new more affordable option to fit their budget.”
“Navigation is complex work,” said Ruth Alburez, Navigator with Legal Aid Justice Center. “Many immigrants have never had insurance, and they don’t know about the American system when coming to this country. We have to teach the community about health insurance, how to use insurance, the terminology, and how to get the most out of their benefits.”
“I’m very thankful for the Affordable Care Act,” said Adriana Rossi, patient storyteller from Fairfax County, Virginia. “I am a single mom, and for a long time, I thought ‘I don’t qualify for that,’ but actually yes, I did. I was surprised. As a realtor and life insurance agent, I am always in contact with the community. It’s amazing to be able to help my clients and tell them there are Navigators who speak Spanish and can provide excellent service.”
“At the Inova Clinic, we have more patients coming who have access to health care,” said Dr. Sergio Rimola, OB/GYN in Falls Church, VA. “Now they can have prenatal care. We can lower prenatal mortality rates because they are going to be having regular visits. As President Biden promised during the campaign trail to expand the Affordable Care Act, it is happening. So today, I want to encourage our community to look at the options and sign up for coverage.”
GSK announced it raked in more than $9 billion this quarter – an increase of over $3.5 million over last year – during their earnings report today. While they make billions, Americans pay exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs. GSK opposes the Biden administration reforms that lower prescription drug prices.
During the call, CEO Emma Walmsley bragged about the company’s “strong and sustained performance momentum, with another quarter of double-digit sales and earnings growth.”.
Drug companies charge Americans prices up to four times higher than prices in other countries, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses to make ends meet.
Over 80 percent of voters support giving Medicare the power to negotiate, making it the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act brings down prescription drug costs for everyday Americans, especially seniors, by capping the price of insulin at $35 per month and providing free vaccines including shingles, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and limiting the amount people have to pay each year for prescription drugs to $2,000 annually starting in 2025.
Pfizer announced it raked in $13.23 billion this quarter, growing their non-COVID operational revenues by 10%, during their earnings report today. While they make billions, Americans pay exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs. Pfizer opposes the Biden administration reforms that lower prescription drug prices.
During the call, CFO Dave Denton bragged about the company’s success in its diversification away from COVID medicines saying, “We are extremely pleased by the strong 10% operational revenue growth of Pfizer’s non-COVID products in the third quarter of 2023… Combined with the momentum of our non-COVID product portfolio and U.S. commercialization of Paxlovid, we expect the program to yield improved operating margins this year and help drive Pfizer’s growth through the end of the decade and beyond.”
Pfizer is a member of PhRMA, which is suing the Biden administration to stop Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for patients because it would endanger their massive profits.
Drug companies charge Americans prices up to four times higher than prices in other countries, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses to make ends meet.
Over 80 percent of voters support giving Medicare the power to negotiate, making it the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act brings down prescription drug costs for everyday Americans, especially seniors, by capping the price of insulin at $35 per month and providing free vaccines including shingles, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and limiting the amount people have to pay each year for prescription drugs to $2,000 annually starting in 2025.