by WorldTribune Staff, November 5, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
A budget gimmick which cost American taxpayers $5 billion allowed the Biden-Harris administration to delay an inevitable and significant increase in seniors' Medicare premiums until after the Nov. 5 election.
"To avoid the political catastrophe of presiding over major premium increases in the middle of a closely contested election, the Biden-Harris administration used its authority to reroute appropriated funding to subsidize the premiums for seniors until after the election," Just the News reported on Sunday.
Due to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Kamala Harris as President of the Senate cast the deciding vote in favor of, Medicare Part D premiums were scheduled to increase in October at the beginning of open enrollment.
Instead, the Biden-Harris regime “created a new program that's going to send billions to health insurance companies… to temporarily offset the premium increases,” Rebecca Weber, the CEO of the Association for Mature American Citizens (AMAC) told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in July a new program to stabilize the premiums, called a demonstration. This program would shell out a total of approximately $5 billion in subsidies for insurance companies to cover the costs of capping prices and other effects of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“One could really say that they're buying, you know, off big insurance companies right before an election. And taxpayers, this is important, that people understanding it, taxpayers are footing the bill today, seniors will pay the price tomorrow,” she added.
The $5 billion budget gimmick adds to the estimated $20 billion in additional spending over three years to cover up the unintended consequences of one of the Biden-Harris administration's signature laws.
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The move sparked criticism from Republicans. “One of @POTUS’ signature domestic achievements is set to cause a significant spike in Medicare premiums for millions of Americans just ahead of the Nov. election,” Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy posted to X. “Now, his admin is preparing to dole out billions of dollars to private insurance companies…”
The Harris campaign tried to spin it as Biden-Harris protecting seniors: “Vice President Harris, along with President Biden, took on Big Pharma and won,” the Harris campaign’s “A New Way Forward for the Middle Class” reads. "They lowered out-of-pocket drug costs for millions of seniors by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices with big pharmaceutical companies for the first time ever and placed a $2,000 cap on all out-of-pocket drug expenses.”
Just the News noted: "Harris’ plan conveniently ignores the ballooning deficits associated with the Inflation Reduction Act’s changes to Medicare—a cost that will be borne by future taxpayers—and papers over the administration’s subsidy gimmick to stave off price increases in the short term."
Analysts say seniors have been the real losers of the Biden-Harris administration’s tampering with Medicare and unchecked federal spending.
“Seniors have been the biggest losers of all from Biden's inflationary policies, because they've lost money,” economist and former Trump advisor Stephen Moore told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
“Who is the biggest victim of inflation? Well, it's always people living on a fixed income with lifetime savings, and all of a sudden, those lifetime savings are worth 20% less than they were, you know, when Biden came into office, their 401K plans have been hit, and bonds have not done very well either.” Moore said.
“And then you add to that…they’ve been robbing money from Medicare, which is only going to accelerate the date when at which you know that Medicare runs out of money,” he added.
