Commentary

Read Protect Our Care’s New Report Here: (Web, PDF) 

Watch the Full Event Here.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Governor Lujan Grisham (D-NM), Richard Fiesta from Alliance for Retired Americans, and health care storyteller Mary Jane Steinhagen joined Protect Our Care to discuss how Medicare is under attack by Donald Trump and his Republican allies. During the call, Protect Our Care released a new report outlining how the MAGA Project 2025 agenda will raise drug prices and premiums, ban drug negotiation, and slash benefits for millions of seniors. MAGA Republicans want to slash tens of billions from Medicare to pay for more tax breaks for the wealthy. 

Medicare Open Enrollment kicked off on October 15, and millions of seniors have begun selecting their plans for 2025. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, insulin copays are capped at $35 per month, recommended vaccines are free, and total out-of-pocket drug costs are capped at $2,000 per year. Next year, new savings from Medicare drug price negotiation will take effect. These new benefits will save people thousands of dollars a year on their prescription drugs, but MAGA Republicans want to roll all of this back and hike costs for seniors and people with disabilities nationwide.

“The Republicans’ plan would take away access to lifesaving treatments, leaving families completely stuck across America,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM). “It’s outrageous, and the contrast could not be clearer. One party, the Democrats, want health care, but Republicans want no rights for any American related to their own health care independence. That’s the choice in this election.”

“Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world. That stopped with the Inflation Reduction Act and Kamala Harris’s vote,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of Alliance for Retired Americans. “But we can’t celebrate for too much longer, because MAGA Republicans and Project 2025 would take us back. We’ve already seen this movie before, because the Trump administration proposed cutting Medicare in every budget that he had.” 

“Right after I retired, in December 2019, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. As a senior living with advanced cancer, the new Medicare benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act are saving my life and removing the enormous financial burden of high-cost drugs,” said Mary Jane Steinhagen, Minnesota storyteller. “Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, out-of-pocket drug costs were capped at $3,300 this year and will be capped at $2,000 next year. In other words, next year I’ll save more than $10,000.” 

“There is so much at stake for health care in the upcoming election,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “The same Republican lawmakers who unanimously voted against lower drug prices are fighting to give tax breaks to big drug companies and their CEOs. While Democrats are working to expand the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug savings, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans want to go backwards and hike costs and rip away benefits from seniors on Medicare.”

Navigator polling released today highlights just how unpopular the Republican agenda on health care is among the American people. MAGA Republicans want to hike prescription drug costs, repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Inflation Reduction Act, cut Medicare and Medicaid, and rip coverage away from people with pre-existing conditions. As they raise costs on the middle class, MAGA Republicans want to give out more tax breaks to the rich and big corporations. This agenda is totally out of step with the American people. Three main takeaways from the results: 

1. Americans Overwhelmingly Support Medicare Negotiation. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress want to stop Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices – even as nearly 9 in 10 Americans (88 percent) support Medicare negotiation.
2. The ACA Remains Widely Popular. While Donald Trump and his Republican allies want to revisit repealing the ACA and its protections for pre-existing conditions, Americans support the ACA by a 34-point margin (59 percent favorable – 25 percent unfavorable).
   
3. Americans Want Congress To Prioritize Extending ACA Subsidies Over Extending The 2017 Trump Tax Law. As Republicans work to extend the Trump tax breaks, the poll shows that the tax law is “26 points underwater” with Americans (30 percent support – 56 percent oppose). At the same time, 88 percent support Democrats’ plans to lower health insurance premiums for Americans through the ACA. Per Navigator: “As both the subsidies through the ACA and the Trump tax law are set to expire in 2025, three in five Americans say they would rather Congress prioritize extending ACA subsidies in order to make health care more affordable than to extend the Trump tax law.”