Seniors are struggling to handle Joe Biden’s inflationary surge in costs for the staples of life, yet the administration seemingly couldn’t care less. Instead of addressing the cost of living crisis, it has been moving savings from Medicare to fund radical “Green New Deal” priorities, especially subsidizing electric vehicles. Not surprisingly, when citizens are apprised of this massive transfer, they overwhelmingly disapprove.
Consider how difficult life becomes financially for so many seniors on modest fixed incomes, especially the one in seven Americans over the age of 65 who rely solely on Social Security payments to support themselves. These seniors struggle to afford the necessities of life. A 2022 Senior Citizens League survey found that 45 percent of America’s elderly used charitable food banks or applied for SNAP, the program commonly known as government food stamps. That sad statistic has more than doubled since Biden took office.
When the Biden administration inserted new drug negotiation regulations into the mammoth—and badly misnamed—Inflation Reduction Act, it “saved” approximately $280 billion, mostly by compelling pharmaceutical firms to accept much lower Medicare reimbursements. But did the actual benefits of this reform flow to seniors? Did medical care improve materially, or Medicare premiums and drug costs for seniors get more affordable?
The awful truth is that almost all of the savings were used to subsidize Biden’s climate alarmism, which the Democrats dishonestly buried within the health portions of the IRA legislation. Of course, in reality, subsidizing Teslas for wealthy suburbanites in California does not improve the health of retirees in Wisconsin.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “Medicare will keep only about 15% of the savings for some relatively inexpensive new benefits.” Much of the remaining 85 percent flows to generous $7,500 subsidies for expensive electric cars. Looking at the economics here reveals the injustice of this transfer. From the Journal column: “In 2019 half of [Medicare] enrollees earned less than $30,000 a year, and AARP reports that the average senior pays $6,500 a year in out-of-pocket health costs.”
Adding insult to injury, drug plan premium prices are set to leap higher in this new year. Just before Thanksgiving, CNBC warned that “retirees may be in for a shock [in 2024]—significantly higher Medicare Part D premiums for prescription drug coverage.” KFF projects a whopping 21 percent increase in these Part D prices for 2024.