White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (left) and domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden (right) answer questions on Aug. 29, 2023, on a recently announced list of the first 10 medicines that will see a decrease in price following negotiations with Medicare. (Win McNamee / Getty Images) |
BY MARTHA BURK | Quick, what were the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022? If you’re like most people, you don‘t remember much except that inflation was rampant, and President Biden wanted to give folks some relief from high prices on necessities like food and gasoline. Most of us didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details beyond the headlines, which were often about tax credits and rebates for green energy projects in moderate to low income households.
But along with energy incentives, another Inflation Reduction Act provision that will greatly affect senior citizens, particularly women, was also front-page news: For the first time since Medicare was implemented in 1965, it will at long last be able to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers on the price of drugs. After decades of Big Pharma fighting to block Medicare from directly negotiating lower drug prices for seniors, President Biden announced in October that all manufacturers of the 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiations will be at the table, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. No thanks to Republicans in Congress though—not a single one supported the bill.
How will women benefit? Several ways. Nearly 3 in 10 Americans struggle to afford their medications because of cost. With our still miserable gender pay gap numbers, it’s a pretty safe bet that the majority of those folks are female. In 2022, women on Medicare spent $1.55 billion in out-of-pocket costs on the 10 drugs included in the negotiations. (Click here to read more) |
