Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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The U.S. has the highest drug prices in the world and we all know it.
President Donald Trump’s latest gimmick to address this long-standing problem is short-sighted and probably illegal: a one-time, $200 drug discount card for some Medicare seniors.
The timing of the discount card makes clear that it is primarily an effort to buy people’s votes. Unfortunately for Medicare seniors, the wrinkle is that the cards, like so many of Trump’s other promises on drug savings, will likely not materialize.
The cards also offer a distraction from the fact that Trump has been working tirelessly to overturn the Affordable Care Act, including the provision that has saved Medicare beneficiaries more than $26 billion on prescription drugs.
The Trump administration is arguing that the Supreme Court should repeal the ACA in its entirety, which would reopen the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole,” the coverage gap in which seniors must pay the full cost of drugs out-of-pocket.
Trump’s announcement follows his well-established pattern of proposing poorly thought-out, hard-to-implement policies that would do little to help real people, particularly evident in his failed efforts to lower prescription drug costs.
While the administration has unveiled a number of ambitious-sounding initiatives aimed at lowering drug spending — including international reference pricing, drug importation, and the elimination of rebates — Medicare beneficiaries haven’t seen tangible reductions in their drug costs from these policies. That’s because none of these have actually taken effect.
The drug cards will reportedly be financed from a Medicare trust fund intended to finance seniors’ hospital, home health and nursing home care. Last month, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will become insolvent in 2024, putting the hospital coverage of Medicare beneficiaries at risk.
This is not the time to be raiding Medicare finances for a political quickie.
The comprehensive prescription drug pricing reforms that Americans deserve will take more than one-time gimmicks and shifting around Medicare dollars.
Yet when such proposals are put before the president — such as the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act passed by the House in December — his response is to threaten a veto.
One candidate in this election has a serious plan for lowering drug prices.
Vice President Joe Biden has pledged to stand up to drug companies to end their abusive pricing games and improve affordability for all Americans, not just those with Medicare.
Biden’s plan would allow the government to negotiate fair prices on behalf of older Americans, limit drug companies’ ability to raise prices and end the tax breaks that companies get for the endless drug promotions we see on television.
Americans deserve a solution that tames mounting prescription drug costs and improves access to life-sustaining medications. Trump’s card trick for a selected group of seniors is but a self-serving sleight of hand.
Richard Frank is a professor of health economics at Harvard Medical School and previously served as assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tim Gronniger is CEO and President of Caravan Health and was previously the Chief of Staff at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Emily Gee was formerly an economist at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They wrote this for InsideSources.com.
