Harris helped cut insulin prices for 122,000 Michigan seniors

As VP, Harris helped pass policy that dramatically reduced insulin prices. If elected president, her plans include capping prescription drug costs and addressing the medical debt crisis.

Dick Hewitt, 73, is tired of seeing his fellow Michigan senior citizens take bus trips to Canada, prescription slips in hand, to buy affordable medications.

That’s why the Portage resident is thrilled about the Biden-Harris price cap on insulin for Medicare members – a special boon for up to 122,000 Michigan Medicare beneficiaries who use insulin to treat their diabetes.

“Affordable health care really ought to be a right,” said Hewitt, a retired robotics manufacturer, master gardener and father of three, who takes insulin for his Type 2 diabetes. “So this is a tremendous step in the right direction.”

The Biden-Harris plan cuts costs

In Michigan, as throughout the United States, the soaring price of life-saving medications – including insulin, which costs only $2-4 a vial to produce – has for years forced seniors to make painful choices. Some have had to choose between paying for health care or rent. Others have skipped taking some medications, even at the risk of getting sick. This is the result of a shameful systemic problem:  Americans pay 2.56 times more for prescription drugs than those in 32 other highly developed countries.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act from the Biden-Harris administration is finally easing the pressure. The law:

• Capped insulin costs at $35 per month for an estimated 122,000 Michigan seniors on Medicare. 
• Made shingles, RSV, and other recommended vaccines free for state residents enrolled in Medicare Part D.
• Extended generous Affordable Care Act subsidies that were set to expire, allowing some 323,000 Michiganders to keep their health insurance.

These changes are just the start of cost-saving reforms, too.

Starting in 2025, the Inflation Reduction Act will cap Medicare recipients out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 per year starting in 2025, saving 673,000 seniors in Michigan an average of $356 per year. And starting in 2026, the law will lower costs for 348,000 Michigan seniors who take one of 10 medications for heart failure, blood clots, diabetes and other ailments, thanks to a provision authorizing Medicare to negotiate prices for expensive drugs with pharmaceutical companies. 

The 10 drugs represent the highest spending for drugs in Medicare Part D. Currently, Medicare beneficiaries with serious illnesses such as cancer or lung disease are confronted with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.

And over the next four years, unless Republicans repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare plans to lower prices for up to 60 other drugs on total, with 20 more every year thereafter.

How Harris plans to build on this progress 

As Harris runs for president, she’s pledged to build off the successes of the Inflation Reduction Act and expand the $35 monthly insulin cap and the $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs so that they apply to all Americans–not just seniors on Medicare. She’s also proposed accelerating Medicare’s drug negotiations and broadening the number of drugs eligible to be negotiated.

She’s addditionally called for eliminating medical debt for millions of Americans and finalizing a proposed federal rule that would ban unpaid medical bills from affecting patients’ credit scores. Barring medical bills from appearing on credit reports would help tens of millions of Americans who have medical debt by eliminating information that can depress their scores, and therefore make it more difficult for them to get a job, rent an apartment, or secure a car loan.

Her plan would build off recent successes in Michigan, which has already used ARPA funds to eliminate $900 million in medical debt for up to 280,000 residents.