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U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and Reps. Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips are taking credit for helping lower costs for Medicare beneficiaries, which is needed, but Minnesota Democrats have failed to address the damage the bill will do. .
Health insurance costs will increase dramatically as a result of the majority of working Americans voting in elected officials’ favor of inflation-reduction legislation.
Legislation that lowers prescription drug costs for people on Medicare is important, but it’s not a solution if it results in higher prices for people covered by employer-sponsored health plans.
The law excludes private payers from prescription drug inflation discounts and provisions that allow for negotiated price increases, affecting 177 million workers and affecting employer-sponsored health plans.
The goal should be to pay for prescription drugs and benefit both seniors and working families.
My concern is that the commercial market will not be able to find similar prices and discounts, resulting in excess costs being passed on to employers and employees, effectively increasing drug costs for the majority of covered American workers without improving prices.
The best approach to improving prescription drug prices would be to pass on important savings to employer plans and their employees through structural reforms that would increase prices, encourage competition, and bring transparency.
I also wonder how many Medicare beneficiaries understand the effective dates for the upcoming changes. Our country will hold two national elections without many changes being implemented.
Sens. Klobuchar and Smith and Reps. Craig, McCollum, Omar and Phillips may deny that their votes will negatively impact small businesses and the working men and women who pay the price, but I believe that time will be commensurate with what follows these changes. Yet another tax.
Glenn Taylor owns the Star Tribune.
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