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ashoup
In Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: Dr. Mehmet Oz Is A Quack Grifter Unqualified To Administer Health Care For Over 160 Million Americans

By nominating Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Donald Trump has taken another disastrous step to sabotage Americans’ health care. A staunch MAGA loyalist, Dr. Oz has a close relationship with Trump’s extreme Health & Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., having promoted his dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on his show a decade ago. Like Trump, Dr. Oz is a shameless grifter and TV personality; he rose to fame promoting dozens of health scams on his show – including one that led to a multimillion-dollar class action settlement for false advertising. The American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics has called him “a dangerous rogue unfit for the office of America’s doctor.” 

More than 160 million Americans depend on programs administered by CMS. Trump has given Dr. Oz a mandate to slash Medicaid and Medicare. In the past, Oz has pushed to gut Medicare and force seniors onto expensive privatized plans that limit what doctors they can see, deny them care, cost taxpayers more, and give $200 billion away annually to big insurance companies,  pushing Medicare toward bankruptcy without improving care at all. He even opposes the Affordable Care Act, and he said he would have voted against it. With Dr. Oz and RFK Jr. overseeing the country’s health care sector, the second Trump administration will only lead us into chaos.

Dr. Oz Will Push To Gut Medicare and Push Seniors Onto Expensive Privatized Plans. As head of CMS, Oz would oversee Medicare, which covers over 67 million seniors and people with disabilities. In Trump’s announcement of his intention to appoint Oz as CMS administrator, he suggested cuts to Medicare would be on the table: “[Oz] will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.” Republicans often cloak health care cuts as cutting “waste and abuse” while actually risking care for people who need it. Oz previously praised a plan from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) which would have ended funding for all federal programs, including Medicare, in five years without Congressional action. In 2022, Oz also staked his Senate campaign on forcing millions of seniors off of traditional Medicare and onto privatized plans – a policy right out of Project 2025. He touted his plan as “Medicare Advantage For All,” even though these plans limit what doctors patients can see, deny patients care, cost taxpayers more, give $200 billion away annually to big insurance companies, and push Medicare towards bankruptcy. Experts estimate that if Medicare Advantage (MA) rose to 75 percent of Medicare enrollment, the program would waste nearly $2 trillion over 10 years on excess payments to these private plans “without any real improvement in health care quality for enrollees.” Even now, as lawmakers have worked to rein in overpayments, some MA plans are prioritizing shareholders over patients by decreasing benefits; of the 25 MA parent organizations by number of plan offerings, 76 percent are decreasing their offerings ahead of the upcoming open enrollment period. MA plans are also known to systematically underpay rural providers and deny coverage to rural Americans. Pushing seniors to MA plans would put rural hospitals at risk of closing and seniors at risk of losing access to care.

Dr. Oz Opposes The Affordable Care Act. After he launched his 2022 Senate campaign as a Republican, Oz called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) “wrong,” and said he “would not have voted for Obamacare.” As head of CMS, Oz would be responsible for implementing the ACA’s consumer protections and regulating state Health Insurance Marketplaces.

  • Dr. Oz Believes “Americans Don’t Have The Right To Health.” In a 2013 speech to Republican governors, Oz proclaimed, “[Americans] don’t have the right to health, but they have a right to access — a chance to get that health,” revealing his belief that only Americans who can afford top-tier health insurance deserve quality care.

Dr. Oz Is A Staunch Trump Loyalist and “Friend” To RFK Jr. Oz has always been a Trump loyalist, receiving Trump’s endorsement during his 2022 Senate run after going to “extensive lengths to win over the former president” and his relationship with RFK Jr. goes back at least 10 years to when Oz hosted him on his TV show to spread anti-vaccine misinformation. After Trump announced his selection of Oz for CMS, RFK Jr. proudly posted on X, “Very excited that my friend @DrOz has agreed to run CMS. Thank you ​@realDonaldTrump for this outstanding nomination. Welcome Dr​. Oz to ​The Avengers. ​Let’s Make America Healthy Again!” 

Just Like RFK Jr., Dr. Oz Has Spent His Career Pushing Pseudoscience. Oz has a long record of grifting dietary supplements unsupported by scientific evidence and recommending at-home ailments based on alarming pseudoscience. In 2012, Oz claimed that selenium supplements were “the holy grail of cancer prevention,” with no scientific evidence to back the claim. Instead, studies have found that high rates of selenium intake can cause severe heart problems. In February 2012, Oz baselessly claimed that raspberry ketones were “the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat.” As the Public Affairs Council found, “There is a total lack of research on raspberry ketones’ effects on fat loss.” In 2014, Oz encouraged his followers to try using strawberries and baking soda to whiten teeth, even though studies have found that the mixture may harm tooth health. In 2015, Oz baselessly claimed that umckaloabo root extract was “incredibly effective at relieving cold symptoms,” even though the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that “there’s a lack of reliable studies on the benefits of these products.” In 2018, Oz tweeted a bizarre pseudoscientific claim that astrological signs “may reveal a great deal about our health.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oz even pushed unproven DIY treatments for the virus, publicly claiming that antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine could be an effective treatment.

Dr. Oz Pushed Dietary Supplements Falsely Promising Weight Loss, Leading To A Multi-Million Dollar False Advertising Settlement. In July 2018, Oz reached a $5.25 million legal settlement in a class action lawsuit against him for pushing green coffee extract dietary supplements he promised had weight loss benefits. On his TV show, Oz promised that the supplements were a “magic weight-loss cure” and “revolutionary fat buster” despite having no scientific evidence to back his claims. Oz testified before Congress on false advertising in the diet and weight-loss industry four years prior. During the hearing, Oz attempted to defend his products to no avail; as one Senator pointed out, “the scientific community is almost monolithic against you.”

Dr. Oz Holds Extreme Anti-Abortion Views. Oz made it clear he opposed Roe v. Wade’s federal abortion protections. During a 2022 debate, when asked about reproductive health care access, Oz declared, “There should not be involvement from the federal government in how states decide their abortion decisions…I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.”

ashoup
In Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: Trump Threatens To Destroy America’s Top Health Institutions By Nominating RFK Jr. For HHS Secretary

Donald Trump has once again moved to undermine the health care of millions of Americans by nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy is a clear threat to the health care and public health institutions that keep Americans safe. From his fringe views on vaccines to outrageous racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, Kennedy’s bizarre beliefs demonstrate his obvious lack of fitness for the position. Kennedy has no experience crafting health policy and he wants to dismantle drug development and infectious disease research. His abhorrent and deadly conspiratorial beliefs should not be anywhere near the top federal agency dictating health policy. If he gets confirmed, millions of American lives will be at stake.

RFK Jr. Is A Threat To Public Health

“No Vaccine Is Safe and Effective:” Kennedy Has Been A Leading Anti-Vaccine Voice For Decades With Deadly Consequences, Frequently Targeting Black Communities. Kennedy, who has said, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” has been a leading voice pushing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories for years. He even said he accosts strangers with babies and urges them not to vaccinate to “save” their children. Nearly two decades ago, Kennedy began spreading a conspiracy theory about the government supposedly working to cover up connections between autism and vaccines. Kennedy has specifically targeted his anti-vaccine dogma at Black Americans. He pushed false claims about Black Americans supposedly being “particularly vulnerable to vaccine injuries including autism” during a 2017 measles outbreak devastating Minnesota’s Somali-American community. In a 2020 interview, Kennedy also asserted without evidence that “People with African blood react differently to vaccines than people with Caucasian blood. They’re much more sensitive.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, he also called the COVID-19 vaccine “a crime against humanity” and falsely claimed that it is the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” releasing a film promoting disproven claims about the dangers of vaccines and explicitly warning Black communities of “sinister” vaccination campaigns. His rhetoric has had deadly consequences; in 2019, 83 people died in a measles epidemic in Samoa after Kennedy visited the island country and met with prominent local anti-vaccine activists.

Kennedy Promotes Dangerous Conspiracy Theories About Fluoridated Water, 5G Cell Service, Antidepressants, “Gay” Chemicals In The Environment, HIV/AIDS, and More. Kennedy believes fluoridated water is “drugging” our children, and has said the second Trump administration would advise states and communities to remove fluoride from the water supply completely. He has also circulated the bogus notion that 5G cellular networks are dangerous, alleging that 5G “causes cancer” and, ‘DNA dysfunction…making our children stupider and sicker.” Kennedy has promoted bizarre beliefs about antidepressants, blaming the SSRI class of medication for school shootings. He has also repeatedly shared unfounded conspiracies that man-made chemicals in the environment could be making children gay or transgender and causing the so-called feminization of boys and masculinization of girls. On multiple occasions, Kennedy has suggested that AIDS may not be caused by HIV, an established scientific fact for decades, claiming instead that, “There are much better candidates than HIV for what causes AIDS.”

Time and Again, Kennedy Has Embraced Blatantly Racist and Antisemitic Views On Public Health Issues. Kennedy has a long history of racism and antisemitism. He has frequently met with and promoted antisemites ranging from disgraced musicians like rapper Ice Cube to fringe online broadcasters and virulent antisemites. At a July 2023 dinner, Kennedy proposed that the COVID-19 virus may have been ethnically targeted to spare Jewish and Chinese people: “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” After the speech went viral, neo-Nazis, holocaust deniers, and antisemites celebrated Kennedy’s conspiracy theory as “100% correct.” In November 2024, new reporting revealed that Kennedy embraced the possibility that the government manufactured the COVID-19 “plandemic,” declaring that the public health response was part of an “agenda that will enslave the entire human race.”

RFK Jr. Is A Threat To The Health of Every American

“I Do Not Believe That Infectious Disease Is An Enormous Threat To Human Health:” Kennedy Threatens to Dismantle America’s Public Health Apparatus. Kennedy has said he will pause all research on drug development and infectious disease and fire hundreds of NIH and FDA employees: “I’m going to go to NIH my first week and I’m going to call all the division heads and I’m going to call all the bureau chiefs and I’m going to say, we’re going to give drug development and infectious disease a break…for about eight years.” Kennedy has also claimed that he will go after medical journals and redirect funding away from disease research. In 2023, Kennedy said, “I do not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health.”

Kennedy Will “Go Wild” On Women’s Health and Destroy Transgender Health Care. Trump has ominously threatened to let Kennedy “go wild” and “do whatever you want” on women’s health. In August 2023, he backed a 15-week federal abortion ban. Though his campaign quickly walked back the policy, Kennedy stated, “I think the states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases,” and suggested the point of viability was three months – suggesting that he never supported Roe v. Wade’s federal abortion protections in the first place. RFK Jr. also supports banning evidence-based gender-affirming care that many medical experts consider a medical necessity, calling it a “non-existential” issue.

RFK Jr. Is Unfit to Run America’s Health Care System

Kennedy Is Completely Unqualified To Lead The Nation’s Largest Civilian Agency. Kennedy has no relevant experience for this position, has never worked in government, and has never directed a large organization of any kind. His anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense, lists fewer than ten staff members, compared to more than 80,000 employees of HHS across a diverse array of sub-agencies and departments. Despite being nominated to run HHS, RFK Jr. has failed to take any position on America’s largest health care institutions – Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which fall under the purview of HHS. In the past, Kennedy falsely claimed that the passage of the ACA resulted in Democrats “getting more money from pharma than Republicans.”

Brain Worms, Animal Carcasses, and Extramarital Affairs: Kennedy Is Unstable and Unfit to Hold Office. Kennedy has a long and well-documented history of erratic and bizarre behavior. In May 2024, Kennedy disclosed that in 2010 doctors found a dead parasitic worm in his brain, leading to brain fog and memory problems. In August 2024, Kennedy admitted to illegally napping roadkill, moving a bear cub’s carcass that was hit by a car in upstate New York to Central Park, and staging a bicycle accident. Federal law enforcement is also currently investigating RFK Jr. for cutting off the head of a dead whale and taking it home 20 years ago. Kennedy has a known history of extramarital affairs as well; this year alone, news broke of a sexting scandal with a reporter and four women came forward claiming to have been romantically involved with Kennedy.

ashoup
In Research, Fact Sheet

FACT SHEET: What’s At Stake For Health Care In The 2024 Election?

Vice President Harris Promises Lower Costs and Better Care While Trump Pushes For Higher Premiums and Worse Coverage

As tens of millions of voters head to the polls on Tuesday, the stakes couldn’t be higher – especially for the future of health care in this country. While Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to build on the Inflation Reduction Act and Affordable Care Act (ACA) by continuing to lower prescription drug costs and expand affordable coverage, MAGA Republicans are trying to turn back the clock and throw millions of people off their health care.

The last Trump administration was disastrous for the American health care system, and with Project 2025 as their blueprint, MAGA Republicans have big plans to raise costs or take away health care for nearly every American. Time and again, MAGA Republicans have declared they want to fight tooth and nail to raise costs, deny coverage to millions of people, and slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid. Trump and his MAGA allies are looking to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s measures that make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors, impose burdensome Medicaid paperwork requirements designed to throw people off of coverage, weaken protections for over 100 million people with pre-existing conditions, and even repeal the ACA entirely. Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have made it clear that they intend to take America backwards. Key points of the GOP health care plan include:

MAGA Republicans Want to Repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Donald Trump sabotaged affordable health care and pre-existing condition protections while he was in office, and has renewed his calls to “terminate” the ACA at least seven times over the last several months with MAGA Republicans echoing his calls. If Trump doesn’t succeed at repealing the ACA altogether, he will stop at nothing to gut it and other critical protections that the American people rely on. 

MAGA Republicans Will Rip Away Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions. MAGA Republicans want to remove many protections for the over 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions made possible through the ACA, allowing insurers to deny coverage or charge more. MAGA Republicans also want to codify rules put forth by the Trump administration that expanded junk health insurance plans. 

MAGA Republicans Will Raise Premium Costs on Middle Class Families. MAGA Republicans want to end enhanced premium tax credits that lower insurance costs for Americans, which were originally enacted in the American Rescue Plan and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act. These enhanced tax credits have reduced ACA Marketplace enrollees’ premiums by an average of $800 per year and contributed to record enrollment. 

MAGA Republicans’ Health Care Plan Will Raise Drug Costs For Seniors. MAGA Republicans want to fully repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions that are saving Americans thousands of dollars on health care. They want to raise costs on seniors while giving more tax breaks to drug companies and their CEOs. 

MAGA Republicans Will Slash Medicare and Medicaid Funding. MAGA Republicans continue to push for raising the retirement age, which would cut benefits for millions of American seniors, and they have proposed cutting Medicaid spending by over 54 percent in the next decade and ripping coverage away from tens of millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

If Republicans are successful in enacting their health care plan, 46 million Americans across the country risk losing coverage, 20 million will see higher premiums, and 67 million people on Medicare will have to pay increased drug costs for lifesaving medications. 

If The Affordable Care Act Is Repealed:

  • GONE: Protections for more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, including 54 million people with a pre-existing condition that would make them completely uninsurable.
  • GONE: Medicaid expansion, which covers about 24 million people. 
  • GONE: Quality, affordable coverage for over 21.4 million people who buy insurance on their own.
  • GONE: Lower prescription drug prices for over 54 million seniors who would have to pay more for prescription drugs because the Medicare ‘donut hole’ will be reopened.
  • GONE: Critical funding for rural hospitals. 
  • GONE: Lower costs and better care for more than 67 million Medicare beneficiaries who will face disruptions to their medical care.
  • GONE: Coverage for 2.3 million adult children who are on their parents’ insurance.
  • GONE: Ban on insurance companies being able to charge women more than men
  • GONE: Ban on insurance companies having annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
  • GONE: Requirements that insurance companies cover prescription drugs and maternity care.

If The Inflation Reduction Act Is Repealed:

  • GONE: A $35 monthly insulin cap for 4 million Americans on Medicare. 
  • GONE: Prescription drug savings for people on Medicare, including a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap and protections from drug company price hikes through inflation rebates. Nearly 19 million American seniors are expected to save an average of $400 per year.
  • GONE: Free vaccines for 52 million people on Medicare, including for shingles and pneumonia. 
  • GONE: Medicare’s power to negotiate lower prices for the most popular and expensive prescription drugs. Nearly 9 million people take the first ten drugs that were selected for Medicare negotiation, which accounts for 20 percent of annual Medicare Part D spending. 
  • GONE: Prescription drug savings for 400,000 low-income seniors through the Medicare Part D Extra Help program.
  • GONE: Free recommended vaccines for people with Medicaid and CHIP coverage. 
  • GONE: Premium tax credits that make premiums affordable for four out of five people who purchase health care on ACA Marketplaces.
ashoup
In Research, Fact Sheet

Speaker Johnson Confirms Health Care is Under Attack and All Americans are at Risk

As Democrats lay out their plans for building on their accomplishments, building on their vision for the future, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are working to drag America backwards. House Speaker Mike Johnson has openly confirmed that the MAGA agenda for health care if Donald Trump is elected includes “no Obamacare.” Donald Trump’s Republican Party wants to “take a blowtorch” to the Affordable Care Act, destroying protections for more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, ripping coverage away from more than 40 million Americans, and raising costs across the board for everyday Americans. 

READ MORE: ‘Mike Johnson Vows to Kill Obamacare’: MAGA Republicans Finally Admit They Want to Repeal The ACA. 

Time and again, MAGA Republicans have made clear plans for American health care: they are going to fight tooth and nail to raise costs, deny coverage to millions of people, and slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid. In 2023 alone, Republicans tried to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s measures that make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors, impose burdensome Medicaid paperwork requirements designed to throw people off of coverage, and weaken protections for 135 million people with pre-existing conditions. The threat that the ACA faces is the same, if not greater, than in 2016, and this election will make all the difference for the health and well-being of the American people.

Key points of the GOP health care plan include:

Repealing the ACA. Donald Trump sabotaged affordable health care and pre-existing condition protections while he was in office, and has renewed his calls to “terminate” the ACA at least seven times over the last several months with MAGA Republicans echoing his calls. If Trump doesn’t succeed at repealing the ACA altogether, he will stop at nothing to gut it and other critical protections that the American people rely on. 

Ripping away protections for pre-existing conditions. MAGA Republicans want to remove many protections for the over 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions made possible through the ACA, allowing insurers to deny coverage or charge more. MAGA Republicans also want to codify rules put forth by the Trump administration that expanded junk health insurance plans. 

Increasing premium costs on middle class families. MAGA Republicans want to end enhanced premium tax credits that lower insurance costs for Americans, which were originally enacted in the American Rescue Plan and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act. These enhanced tax credits have reduced ACA Marketplace enrollees’ premiums by an average of $800 per year and contributed to record enrollment. 

Hiking drug costs for seniors. MAGA Republicans want to fully repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions that are saving Americans thousands of dollars on health care. They want to raise costs on seniors while giving more tax breaks to drug companies and their CEOs. 

Slashing Medicare and Medicaid funding. MAGA Republicans continue to push for raising the retirement age, which would cut benefits for millions of American seniors, and they have proposed cutting Medicaid spending by over 54 percent in the next decade and ripping coverage away from tens of millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

If Republicans are successful in enacting their health care plan, 46 million Americans across the country risk losing coverage, 20 million will see higher premiums, and 67 million people on Medicare will have to pay increased drug costs for lifesaving medications. 

euriel
In News, Research, Report

REPORT: The MAGA Republican War on Medicare

Download the PDF version of this report

Chapters

Introduction
Raising Drug Prices and Premiums
Slashing Medicare Benefits
Conclusion

The MAGA Republican War on Medicare

The MAGA Project 2025 Agenda Will Raise Drug Prices and Premiums, Ban Drug Negotiation, and Slash Benefits

Introduction

The Trump-MAGA Republican Project 2025 agenda is clear: Medicare is on the chopping block. While in office, Trump attempted to slash Medicare’s budget every year and push seniors into privatized plans that line insurance company pockets at the expense of their access to care and taxpayers’ wallets. And now Trump is saying the quiet part out loud this cycle: if he wins, he will come for Medicare. Republicans have targeted Medicare cuts for decades, and they certainly have no plans to back down. The 2025 Medicare open enrollment period kicks off on October 15, and 67.5 million seniors will begin signing up for their plans. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare is better than ever. Seniors and people with disabilities will save money on prescription drugs and vaccines, with new benefits including:

  • A $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs starting January 1, saving nearly 19 million Americans an average of $400 each year
  • A $35 monthly copay cap on insulin for 4 million Americans on Medicare who use insulin
  • Free shingles and other essential vaccinations
  • Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices with savings starting in 2026
  • Protections from drug company price hikes thanks to inflation rebates

These new benefits are at grave risk: The cost-saving measures in the Inflation Reduction Act were passed in Congress without a single Republican vote and are under attack by Donald Trump and Republican Members of Congress. Millions of seniors finally have the breathing room they need in order to pay for other essentials like food and housing, or transportation to visit their grandchildren – but Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans want to rip it all away.

When Donald Trump was in office, he slashed $25 billion from Medicare programs. In his second term, he plans to cut a whopping $845 billion more. Trump’s friend, MAGA Republican Rick Scott even proposed sunsetting Medicare after five years. When Trump was unable to pass the most radical GOP plans for Medicare, he signed an executive order pushing seniors into expensive private plans to pad insurance company profits. Trump gave billions in tax breaks to drug and health insurance companies and executives during his first term, and wants to slash tens of billions from Medicare to pay for more tax breaks for the wealthy.

For decades, Republicans have sought cuts to Medicare. One of Donald Trump’s promises on the 2020 campaign trail was also significant cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare if he won a second term. Project 2025 builds upon these promises and offers insight into the MAGA framework for stripping Medicare coverage from seniors and people with disabilities, increasing prescription drug prices, increasing fraud throughout the system, and forcing them to pay more for their health care across the board.

If Trump and his MAGA allies get their way:

GONE: The $2,000 Annual Out-of-Pocket Limit. People enrolled in Medicare Part D will no longer have any limit to out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. The $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cost cap starting January 1, would have saved nearly 19 million Americans an average of $400 each year.
GONE: $35 Insulin. A $35 monthly copay cap on insulin for 4 million Americans on Medicare who use insulin will no longer be in place.
GONE: Medicare Drug Price Negotiation. Medicare will lose the power to negotiate lower drug prices for 80 of the costliest and most commonly used drugs in Medicare by 2030. Seniors who are tired of paying up to eight times more for their prescription drugs than people in other countries will return to being at the mercy of drug company greed.
GONE: Protection Against Outrageous Drug Company Price Hikes. Drug companies will no longer face penalties for hiking their prices beyond the rate of inflation. These penalties saved nearly 770,000 seniors directly on their drug costs and saved taxpayers and people on Medicare $3 billion.
GONE: The Expansion of Free Coverage for Low-Income Seniors. Eligibility for the Medicare Extra Help subsidy program will be reduced, restricting a program that makes prescription drugs more affordable for 1 million lower-income seniors and people with disabilities, with up to 13.1 million more eligible but not yet enrolled.
GONE: Medicare Reimbursements For Life-Saving Care. The 5 million people on Medicare would see life-saving health care threatened due to spending cuts.
GONE: Free Vaccines. Over 4 million Americans will lose access to free vaccines. Repealing free vaccine access would force people on Medicare to pay up to $424 for the shingles vaccine again.
GONE: Funding For Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care. Funding for nearly two-thirds of long-term residents in nursing homes would dry up.
GONE: $200 Billion in Medicare Funding Every Year. New enrollees will be pushed into privatized Medicare plans that restrict their choices of doctors and hospitals, leading to a $200 billion annual giveaway to corporations at the expense of people on Medicare and taxpayers without improving care.

The MAGA Project 2025 Agenda: Raising Drug Prices and Premiums

Killing Out-of-Pocket Cost Caps

MAGA Republicans Want People on Medicare to Pay More For Prescription Drugs. MAGA Republicans want to kill the Inflation Reduction Act, which will cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs starting on January 1. Millions of people in Medicare still struggle to pay for life-saving prescriptions or treatments, with Black Americans on Medicare being nearly twice as likely than their white counterparts to stop taking a prescription due to cost. Hispanic/Latino Americans over 65 are also 1.5 times as likely to have challenges affording out-of-pocket prescription costs. The Inflation Reduction Act caps annual out-of-pocket spending to $2,000 for over 54 million Americans beginning in 2025. If repealed, people on Medicare could face skyrocketing costs.

Republicans have been working on ending this benefit ever since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, proposing legislation that would increase out-of-pocket prescription drug costs. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced multiple pieces of legislation to repeal the new out-of-pocket cap that will protect seniors from high prescription drug costs. Over 20 House Republicans sponsored a bill to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act.

This cap could mean the difference between life and death for the countless seniors relying on high-cost drugs for complex conditions such as Crohn’s disease. The 3.2 million on Medicare who are expected to reach the cap in 2025 will save an average of $1,500 per year on out-of-pocket costs – saving nearly 19 million Americans an average of $400 each year.

Ending The Insulin Copay Cost Cap

MAGA Republicans Want to Keep Profits High for Manufacturers and Insulin Costs Unaffordable For Seniors. For years, Republicans rejected legislation to cap insulin costs for millions of people with diabetes nationwide – even though as many as one in four Americans dependent on insulin are skipping or skimping on doses, a life-threatening practice no one in the country should have to bear. On average, seniors with Medicare Part D or B who are not receiving subsidies paid an average of $572 every year for this life-saving medication before the cap went into effect – an unthinkable sum for many on fixed incomes. Patients who suffer chronic complications could expect to pay upwards of an additional $650 per year.

The outrageous prices of insulin, a drug vital for the survival of nearly 4 million Americans on Medicare, forced 80 percent of Americans with diabetes to take out debt to pay for their prescriptions. The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin prices at no more than $35 for all people on Medicare, saving them up to $1,500 annually. Meanwhile, MAGA Republicans are blocking efforts to expand the insulin copay cap to Americans on Medicaid, ACA plans, and private health insurance plans while fighting to protect multibillion-dollar tax breaks they passed for large corporations profiting off of insulin.

Fueling Unadulterated Drug Company Price Hikes

MAGA Republicans Want Big Drug Companies To Impose Outrageous Price Increases On Seniors Without Any Consequences. MAGA Republicans who want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act are seeking to end a provision that penalizes drug companies for raising drug prices faster than the rate of inflation. For too long, drug companies have charged whatever they want for lifesaving medications while seniors cut pills and skipped doses because of high costs. Drug costs have soared, leaving seniors forced to make impossible decisions between the drugs they need and the drugs they can afford.

Over the past 20 years, price increases for brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation. During Trump’s first year in office, the list prices of 20 of the top 25 drugs covered by Medicare Part D increased between three and nine times the rate of inflation, according to KFF. AARP found that annual drug costs for the drugs most commonly used by seniors rose 5.8 percent in 2018, more than twice the rate of inflation. Likewise, drug prices increased an average of 21 percent in 2019 and grew faster than inflation in 2020. An analysis by KFF showed that half of all drugs covered by Medicare had list price increases exceeding the rate of inflation in 2020. For example, AbbVie has hiked the price of its blockbuster drug Humira 27 times, including in January 2021 when it raised its cost by 7.4 percent. Since this provision went into effect, manufacturers of 98 drugs have been penalized, saving at least 770,000 seniors directly on their drug costs, and saving people with Medicare and taxpayers nearly $3 billion.

Banning the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program

MAGA Republicans Want to Ban Medicare From Negotiating Lower Drug Prices. MAGA Republicans seeking to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act want to end the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program. Americans currently pay two to four times more for prescriptions than people in other countries and if Republicans have their way it will stay like that. Negotiating lower prices remains overwhelmingly popular among voters of all parties across the country, including 77 percent of Republican voters. Despite bipartisan support from the American people, the Inflation Reduction Act passed without a single vote from Republicans in Congress, and now some are working to repeal all of the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing measures. The same Republican lawmakers who unanimously voted to maintain the status quo and keep health care costs high are fighting to repeal the drug pricing measures of the Inflation Reduction Act and extend tax breaks for the wealthy.

  • For The First Time In History, Medicare Is Finally Negotiating Lower Drug Prices For Seniors. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats in Congress gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices on behalf of seniors. These prices will take effect in 2026 and the administration will continue to negotiate more drugs every year, totaling 80 drugs by 2030. After a successful first round of negotiations, the administration announced lower prices for ten of the costliest drugs on the market. Medicare has already negotiated 38 to 79 percent lower list prices for the ten drugs that make up around 20 percentof all Medicare Part D spending. The first ten drugs selected for the first round of negotiations are taken by nearly 9 million people on Medicare, who spent $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs last year alone. The ten drugs included in the first round of negotiations are Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, and Fiasp. The newly lowered prices for the first round of drugs will save seniors thousands of dollars and will save taxpayers billions. These newly lowered prices would have saved seniors $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs and saved taxpayers $6 billion if they had been in effect in 2023.
  • While Democrats Are Working To Expand The Inflation Reduction Act’s Prescription Drug Savings, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans Want To Go Backwards. Democrats want to build on the drug pricing reforms to lower drug prices for all Americans. Meanwhile, Republicans are continuing to side with drug industry lobbyists by trying to stop Medicare from negotiating lower prices and prevent corporations from paying their fair share in taxes.

Giving Tax Breaks To Big Drug Companies While Raising Drug Prices for Seniors

MAGA Republican Efforts To Ban Medicare Drug Negotiations Are Driven By Nothing More Than Corporate Greed. The MAGA Republican Study Committee (RSC)’s latest budget proposal would repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and strip Medicare’s power to negotiate prices, costing taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and placing these equity-advancing improvements at risk while drug companies hoard record profits. If these efforts succeed, companies like Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, who already spent over $100 million to lobby against the initial passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, will continue raking in billions annually on drugs with no generic alternative while sick Americans skip doses because of drug company greed.

Republicans continue to give into lobbying campaigns by the pharmaceutical industry, turning their backs on the American people by standing in opposition to any legislation reducing drug prices. During his administration, former President Trump was an ally of the pharmaceutical industry. He signed a $1.5 trillion tax bill that disproportionately benefited the wealthy and reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, giving billions in tax breaks to drug and health insurance companies and executives. Collectively, fourteen of the largest drug companies in the U.S. have already spent $62 billion this year lining the pockets of shareholders. Trump wants to gut Medicare and other health programs to fund tax breaks that ensure these rich shareholders get their billions in buybacks tax-free.

In the meantime, while industry lobbyists attempt to paint a grim future to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, CEOs are boasting record profits, upgrading their long-term revenue projections, and stating confidence in their ability to navigate the new legislation. Farxiga manufacturer AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot bragged in July, “We recorded a record second quarter with almost $13 billion in revenue.” Drugmakers filed cases in eleven courts across the country to stop Medicare from negotiating. The same pharmaceutical companies suing the federal government over the Inflation Reduction Act are continuing to rake in multibillion-dollar profits, upgrade their long-term forecasts, and handsomely reward their shareholders. Drug company CEOs and executives want to pad their profits and keep costs high for seniors. If they get their way, it would mean higher drug prices and higher premiums for seniors already struggling to keep up with the high cost of living.

The MAGA Project 2025 Agenda: Slashing Medicare Benefits

Medicare has always been on MAGA Republicans’ chopping block. When they controlled the White House, House, and Senate between 2017 and 2021, they enacted and proposed multiple pieces of legislation that capped Medicare programs, cut benefits, and reduced spending. Trump proposed substantial cuts to Medicare in every single one of his budgets as President, including over $845 billion in cuts and reallocations from Medicare spending in 2020. One of the shining pillars of the Trump administration, the 2017 tax law, slashed over $25 billion in funding for Medicare within just one year of the cuts going into effect.

The Republican record of trying to cut Medicare did not improve after 2020. All but nine House Republicans and more than half of Republican Senators voted against the 2022 funding bill protecting Medicare from spending cuts as the COVID-19 public health emergency ended. In 2023, Republicans came out in droves supporting cuts to Medicare. From the Republican House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith floating potential Medicare cuts to Rep. Bruce Westerman supporting caps in Medicare spending, it is clear that top Republicans are itching to cut Medicare spending. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy even proposed cuts to Medicare during the 2023 session, with support from the Republican Study Committee and many influential House members like House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and Rep. Chip Roy. They also advocated for a 2024 budget that would have included over $58 billion more cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Slashing Medicare Coverage

MAGA Republicans Want to Slash Medicare Spending and Coverage. As recently as March of 2024, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) and Trump’s Project 2025 introduced proposals that would slash Medicare spending and increase costs to seniors. They follow a similar lane to Republicans’ 2024 budget proposal which seeks to privatize Medicare and raise the retirement age. Moving into budget negotiations for 2023, prominent Republicans including RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Senators Rubio and Ron Johnson, and Representative Matt Gaetz initially backed an 11-point plan pitched by Senator Rick Scott which would have sunset all government programs including Medicare after five years. The RSC proposal, which includes over $16 trillion in cuts to programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, follows other GOP proposals to sunset all federal programs after five years, including Medicare – threatening health coverage for 67.5 million seniors and people with disabilities. Trump wants to slash tens of billions from Medicare to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

  • Over 67.5 Million Seniors Could See Life-Saving Health Care Threatened. In 2023, there were over 5 millionAmericans enrolled in Medicare. These people rely on Medicare for life-saving services like doctor visits, prescription drugs, hospital, and nursing home care. Cuts to key Medicare programs would see millions of seniors at risk of having worse care, less access to facilities and physicians, and less choice for vital prescriptions, all while raising out-of-pocket costs.
  • MAGA Republicans Want to Curb Physician Reimbursement Dramatically and Cut Hospital Spending, Reducing Quality of Care and Limiting Provider Choice. Cuts like those recommended by the Trump administration would have significantly reduced payments to health providers, including hospitals. The nearly $900 billion in cuts and reallocations would have left hospitals more short-staffed than ever. For people on Medicare to receive the quality and affordable health care they are entitled to, they must have access to the physicians and facilities that provide that care. Republican cuts to Medicare could also see physician reimbursements fall, meaning fewer doctors able to take in fewer patients and, on average, located further away from people who rely on Medicare.
  • MAGA Republicans Want to End Anti-Fraud Measures that Protect Seniors from Price Gouging and Waste. House Republicans and Trump’s Project 2025 have proposed ending the Stark Law, which bans physicians from self-referring patients to facilities and services in which they have a financial stake. In addition to having a clear conflict of interest, these controversial physician-owned hospitals provide limited or no emergency services, cherry-pick the most potentially profitable patients, and incur significantly higher costs on the Medicare program. According to the HHS, up to one-third of these hospitals may violate Medicare requirements by relying on publicly funded services to stabilize patients while still charging the patients exorbitantly. The Affordable Care Act’s closing of the “whole hospital” exception loophole in the Stark Law reduced the federal deficit by half a billion dollars over ten years and President Biden with the ending of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) reinstituted these restrictions protecting patients and taxpayers from fraud and abuse; Republicans repealing it will cost the federal government and the American people millions of dollars annually. 

Cutting Medicare Benefits

MAGA Republicans Want to Shrink Part D Coverage Subsidies For Lower-Income Seniors and People with Disabilities on Medicare. The Inflation Reduction Act expanded eligibility for the Extra Help program, which subsidizes prescription drug coverage premiums for seniors with limited resources and incomes up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, or $21,870 per year as of 2023. 1.1 million lower-income seniors and people with disabilities are currently enrolled in the program, and up to 13.1 million more are eligible but not yet enrolled. Seniors save an estimated $300 a year on average in out-of-pocket costs by receiving full benefits instead of partial benefits. By repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans would repeal this program, putting affordable prescription drug coverage further out of reach for millions of seniors. 

MAGA Republicans Want to Reintroduce Costs for People on Medicare Based on Their Health Status. MAGA Republicans are pushing to allow Medicare to conduct medical underwriting to determine costs and coverage. Medical underwriting is a process in which insurance companies can discriminate against people and refuse to allow them onto health insurance plans based on that individual’s medical history. Trump’s Project 2025 proposes basing Medicare payments on the health status of a patient so that health providers can price gouge those who need health care the most. Allowing medical underwriting in Medicare would disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities who face health disparities due to systemic barriers to health care access, as well as people with chronic illness – and higher costs will only result in expanded treatment disparities.

MAGA Republicans Want to Push Seniors Into Privatized Medicare Plans, Padding Insurer Profits, Wasting Billions, and Propelling Medicare Towards Bankruptcy. Trump’s Project 2025 proposes making privatized Medicare Advantage plans the default for new enrollees. These plans cost 22 percent more on average per person. Pushing seniors into these plans would lead to a $200 billion annual giveaway to corporations and push Medicare towards bankruptcy – at the expense of people on Medicare and taxpayers without improving care. Experts estimate that if Medicare Advantage rose to 75 percent of Medicare enrollment, the program would waste nearly $2 trillion over 10 years on excess payments to these private plans “without any real improvement in health care quality for enrollees.” Even now, as lawmakers have worked to rein in overpayments, some Medicare Advantage plans are pulling back benefits; of the 25 MA parent organizations by number of plan offerings, 76 percent are decreasing their offerings ahead of the upcoming open enrollment period. MA plans are also known to systematically underpay rural providers and deny coverage to rural Americans. Pushing seniors to MA plans would put rural hospitals at risk of closing and seniors at risk of losing access to care.

Ending Free Vaccines For Seniors and People with Disabilities on Medicare

MAGA Republicans Want to End Free Vaccine Access For Over 4 Million Americans On Medicare. Before the Inflation Reduction Act, people on Medicare had to pay out-of-pocket copays for many recommended vaccines, such as shingles and RSV. In 2020 alone, more than 4,108,000 Americans received a vaccine through Medicare’s prescription drug benefit. Now, everyone enrolled in Medicare Part D has access to free vaccines, such as shingles and pneumonia, at no cost. Seniors on Medicare Part D are saving over $400 on average on vaccinations in 2023. The high out-of-pocket cost of the shingles vaccine has been a key factor in low vaccination rates, especially among Black and Latino communities. This has extended an important affordable preventive service to seniors on Medicare; Americans with private insurance could already typically receive shingles vaccinations at no cost. Repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, and with it, free vaccine access, would force seniors to pay up to $424 for the shingles vaccine again.

Cutting Funding For Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care

MAGA Republicans Want to Cut Funding For Nearly Two-Thirds of Long-Term Residents in Nursing Homes. Republicans are also pushing for cuts to Medicaid, which covers nursing home bills for over 60 percent of residents in nursing homes. In 2019, this totaled over $50 billion. The median private nursing home room can cost over $100,000 annually. Medicaid caps or cuts would see more seniors without the financial resources to afford long-term care. In contrast, Vice President Harris recently released a new proposal to shift nursing home coverage from Medicaid to Medicare and add an in-home health care benefit to Medicare – in addition to vision and hearing care.

Conclusion

The evidence is damning – the MAGA Trump Project 2025 agenda is a clear danger to seniors across the nation. Instead of supporting the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Medicare for health care, Trump and his MAGA allies want to slash spending, raise costs, and reduce coverage while increasing waste and giving tax breaks to big drug companies and the wealthiest Americans. The radical MAGA Medicare agenda threatens millions of older adults, people with disabilities, and their families and benefits the corporations and ultra-wealthy who profit off Americans’ illness.

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In News, Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: Open Enrollment Brings New Benefits and Savings for Millions of Seniors, But Republicans Want to Roll it All Back

Seniors Will Save in 2025 Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act: $2,000 Annual Out-of-Pocket Cap, $35 Monthly Insulin Cost Cap, and Free Vaccines 

Medicare open enrollment begins on October 15 and runs through December 7. Starting October 1, seniors can begin reviewing coverage options for 2025. Seniors will see that   Medicare is better than ever thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, and  they will save money on drugs and vaccines. The cost-saving measures in the Inflation Reduction Act were passed in Congress without a single Republican vote and are under attack by Donald Trump and Republican Members of Congress. 

For the first time ever, starting January 1, 2025, people on Medicare will benefit from a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drug costs. This is in addition to benefits that went into effect on January 1, 2023: recommended vaccines are now free, monthly insulin costs are capped at $35 per prescription, and drug companies cannot take advantage of seniors by raising drug prices faster than the rate of inflation without penalty. Additionally, starting in 2026, Medicare beneficiaries will see lower drug prices across the board thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, which will save seniors and taxpayers billions of dollars.

These savings and benefits are under attack: 

Republicans want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and hike drug costs for seniors. Trump’s Project 2025 makes the GOP’s plans clear: repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, ban Medicare from negotiating drug prices, and line drug companies’ pockets. Every Republican in Congress voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and Republicans in Congress continue to call for its repeal. The GOP’s latest attacks are just another attempt to carry out Trump’s Project 2025, do the bidding of the big drug companies, and repeal the law. 

Big drug companies are charging Americans two to four times more than people in other countries. While Democrats are doing what needs to be done to ensure seniors can afford the care they need without sacrificing groceries, gas, or rent – Republicans are siding with big drug companies and playing partisan games with seniors’ access to medication.

In 2025, Seniors Will Pay Less for Health Care:

The Inflation Reduction Act is drastically reducing the cost of prescription drugs for the more than 50 million Americans enrolled in Medicare’s Part D drug benefit, reducing racial, income, and geographic disparities in health care, and saving lives. Seniors will finally have the breathing room they need to pay for other essentials like food and housing, or transportation to visit their grandchildren.

By the Numbers:

  • Over 50 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries will have out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs capped at $2,000 per year starting January 1, 2025. 
  • Medicare beneficiaries no longer face big drug companies’ outrageous price hikes that exceed inflation. 
  • All Medicare Part D beneficiaries have access to free vaccines, such as shingles and pneumonia, at no cost.
  • No Medicare beneficiary pays more than $35 a month for an insulin copay.
  • Lower prices were negotiated for the first 10 drugs selected for the Negotiation Program, with more drugs to be named each year. Nearly 9 million people on Medicare rely on these drugs and spent $3.4 billion on them in out-of-pocket costs last year alone.
  • Total monthly Part D premiums are expected to decrease by $7.45 (13%) on average from 2024 to 2025.

The Inflation Reduction Act Lowers Prescription Drug Prices

$2,000 Annual Out-of-Pocket Spending Cap. Starting January 1, 2025, no senior on Medicare Part D will spend more than $2,000 a year on prescription drugs. This cap could mean the difference between life and death for the countless seniors relying on high-cost drugs for complex conditions such as multiple myeloma. The 3.2 million on Medicare who are expected to reach the cap in 2025 will save an average of $1,500 per year on out-of-pocket costs. By 2029, 4.1 million enrollees, including one in ten seniors in 19 states and DC will benefit from the new annual out-of-pocket limit. 

Medicare Negotiation For Lower Drug Prices. In August, the Biden-Harris administration announced new, lower prices for ten of the most expensive and commonly used drugs among people with Medicare: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, and Fiasp/ NovoLog. Nearly 9 million people on Medicare rely on these drugs and spent $3.4 billion on them in out-of-pocket costs last year alone. These prices go into effect in 2026 and will save seniors $1.5 billion out-of-pocket and save taxpayers an additional $6 billion in the first year alone.  Over 80 percent of Americans support Medicare negotiating lower drug prices — the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

$35 Insulin Cap For Seniors. In 2020, there were more than 3.2 million insulin users with Medicare, with nearly 1.7 million purchasing their insulin without low-income subsidies. On average, seniors with Medicare Part D or B who are not receiving subsidies pay an average of $572 every year for this life-saving medication — an unthinkable sum for many on fixed incomes. Patients who suffer chronic complications can expect to pay upwards of an additional $650 per year. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, monthly insulin copays for people on Medicare are capped at $35 per prescription. A recent study showed that 1.5 million people on Medicare would have saved an average of $500 in 2020 from the $35 insulin copay cap.

Ends Outrageous Price Increases For Seniors. Over the past 20 years, price increases for brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation. The Inflation Reduction Act penalizes drug companies for raising drug prices faster than the rate of inflation starting at the beginning of 2023. Since this provision went into effect, manufacturers of 98 drugs have been penalized, saving at least 770,000 seniors directly on their drug costs, and saving people with Medicare and taxpayers nearly $3 billion. An analysis by KFF showed that half of all drugs covered by Medicare had list price increases exceeding the rate of inflation in 2020. For example, AbbVie has hiked the price of its blockbuster drug Humira 27 times, including in January 2021 when it raised its cost by 7.4 percent. 

Free Shingles, RSV, and Other Recommended Vaccinations. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, 50.5 million seniors are eligible for no-cost shingles vaccinations. In 2020, nearly 4 million Medicare beneficiaries received the two-part shingles vaccination. With a single shot of Shingrix costing $212, seniors on Medicare Part D are saving over $400 on average on vaccinations in 2023. The high out-of-pocket cost of the shingles vaccine has been a key factor in low vaccination rates, especially among Black and Latino communities. This extends an important affordable preventive service to seniors on Medicare; Americans with private insurance could already typically receive shingles vaccinations at no cost.

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In News, Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: Medicare Open Enrollment Brings New Benefits and Savings for Millions of Seniors

Seniors Will Save in 2025 Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act: $2,000 Annual Out-of-Pocket Cap, $35 Monthly Insulin Cost Cap, and Free Vaccines 

Medicare open enrollment begins on October 15 and runs through December 7. Starting October 1, seniors can begin reviewing coverage options for 2025. Seniors will see that   Medicare is better than ever thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Seniors will save money on drugs and vaccines, and can expect their premiums to remain stable or even decrease. The cost saving measures in the Inflation Reduction Act were passed in Congress without a single Republican vote and are under attack by Donald Trump and Republican Members of Congress. 

Starting January 1, 2025 people on Medicare will benefit from a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drug costs. This is in addition to benefits that went into effect on January 1, 2023: recommended vaccines are now free, monthly insulin costs are capped at $35 per prescription, and drug companies cannot take advantage of seniors by raising drug prices faster than the rate of inflation without penalty. Additionally, starting in 2026, Medicare beneficiaries will see lower drug prices across the board thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, which will save seniors and taxpayers billions of dollars and put downward pressure on premiums.

Seniors Will Pay Less for Health Care 

The Inflation Reduction Act is drastically reducing the cost of prescription drugs for the more than 50 million Americans enrolled in Medicare’s Part D drug benefit, reducing racial, income, and geographic disparities in health care, and saving lives. Seniors will finally have the breathing room they need to pay for other essentials like food and housing, or transportation to visit their grandchildren.

By the Numbers:

  • Over 50 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries will have out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs capped at $2,000 per year starting January 1, 2025. 
  • Medicare beneficiaries no longer face big drug companies’ outrageous price hikes that exceed inflation. 
  • All Medicare Part D beneficiaries have access to free vaccines, such as shingles and pneumonia, at no cost.
  • No Medicare beneficiary pays more than $35 a month for an insulin copay.
  • Lower prices were negotiated for the first 10 drugs selected for the Negotiation Program, with more drugs to be named each year. Nearly 9 million people on Medicare rely on these drugs and spent $3.4 billion on them in out-of-pocket costs last year alone.
  • Total monthly Part D premiums are expected to decrease by $7.45 (13%) on average from 2024 to 2025.

The Inflation Reduction Act Lowers Prescription Drug Prices

$2,000 Annual Out-of-Pocket Spending Cap. Starting January 1, 2025, no senior on Medicare Part D will spend more than $2,000 a year on prescription drugs. This cap could mean the difference between life and death for the countless seniors relying on high cost drugs for complex conditions such as multiple myeloma. The 3.2 million on Medicare who are expected to reach the cap in 2025 will save an average of $1,500 per year on out-of-pocket costs. By 2029, 4.1 million enrollees, including one in ten seniors in 19 states and DC will benefit from the new annual out-of-pocket limit. 

Medicare Negotiation For Lower Drug Prices. In August, the Biden-Harris administration announced new, lower prices for ten of the most expensive and commonly used drugs among people with Medicare: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, and Fiasp/ NovoLog. Nearly 9 million people on Medicare rely on these drugs and spent $3.4 billion on them in out-of-pocket costs last year alone. These prices go into effect in 2026,  and will save seniors $1.5 billion out-of-pocket and save taxpayers an additional $6 billion in the first year alone.  Over 80 percent of Americans support Medicare negotiating lower drug prices — the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

$35 Insulin Cap For Seniors. In 2020, there were more than 3.2 million insulin users with Medicare, with nearly 1.7 million purchasing their insulin without low-income subsidies. On average, seniors with Medicare Part D or B who are not receiving subsidies pay an average of $572 every year for this life-saving medication — an unthinkable sum for many on fixed incomes. Patients who suffer chronic complications can expect to pay upwards of an additional $650 per year. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, monthly insulin copays for people on Medicare are capped at $35 per prescription. A recent study showed that 1.5 million people on Medicare would have saved an average of $500 in 2020 from the $35 insulin copay cap.

Ends Outrageous Price Increases For Seniors. Over the past 20 years, price increases for brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation. The Inflation Reduction Act penalizes drug companies for raising drug prices faster than the rate of inflation starting at the beginning of 2023. Since this provision went into effect, manufacturers of 98 drugs have been penalized, saving at least 770,000 seniors directly on their drug costs, and saving people with Medicare and taxpayers nearly $3 billion. An analysis by KFF showed that half of all drugs covered by Medicare had list price increases exceeding the rate of inflation in 2020. For example, AbbVie has hiked the price of its blockbuster drug Humira 27 times, including in January 2021 when it raised its cost by 7.4 percent. 

Free Shingles, RSV, and Other Recommended Vaccinations. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, 50.5 million seniors are eligible for no-cost shingles vaccinations. In 2020, nearly 4 million Medicare beneficiaries received the two-part shingles vaccination. With a single shot of Shingrix costing $212, seniors on Medicare Part D are saving over $400 on average on vaccinations in 2023. The high out-of-pocket cost of the shingles vaccine has been a key factor in low vaccination rates, especially among Black and Latino communities. This extends an important affordable preventive service to seniors on Medicare; Americans with private insurance could already typically receive shingles vaccinations at no cost.

These savings and benefits are under attack: 

Republicans want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and hike drug costs for seniors. Trump’s Project 2025 makes the GOP’s plans clear: repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, ban Medicare from negotiating drug prices, and line drug companies’ pockets. Every Republican in Congress voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and Republicans in Congress continue to call for its repeal. The GOP’s latest attacks are just another attempt to carry out Trump’s Project 2025, do the bidding of the big drug companies, and repeal the law. 

Big drug companies are charging Americans two to four times more than people in other countries. While Democrats are doing what needs to be done to ensure seniors can afford the care they need without sacrificing groceries, gas, or rent – Republicans are siding with big drug companies and playing partisan games with seniors’ access to medication.

ashoup
In News, Research, Fact Sheet

FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Health Care Legacy is a BFD!

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off, Protect Our Care celebrates President Biden’s health care legacy. During his Presidency, Joe Biden has built on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), safeguarding its consumer protections and boosting access to affordable health care for millions of Americans by lowering costs and addressing health inequities. He signed the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, lowering prescription costs and premiums, and he has fought to protect and strengthen Medicare and Medicaid. Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:

“Joe Biden’s health care legacy is a BFD. There would not be an Inflation Reduction Act without Joe Biden – he created it, he fought aggressively for it for months, he refused to give up, and his legislative skills made it happen. As President, he built on the success of the ACA, standing up to greedy drug companies, lowering the cost of drugs and health insurance and expanding affordable health care to millions of people across America. He kept America safe during the pandemic and launched the cancer moonshot program. He has paved the way for a future where every American has the health care they need and where health care is a right, not a privilege.” 

“Joe Biden has always been a health care champion; he sponsored a bill during his first year in the Senate establishing a Medicare drug price negotiation program and he partnered with President Obama to pass the ACA. Every American’s health care is better and more affordable today because of Joe Biden.”

The Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan:

  • Protect seniors from prescription drug hikes. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, when drug companies hike prices faster than the rate of inflation, they will have to pay Medicare a rebate. This has not only saved the government billions of dollars, but it has drastically reduced out-of-pocket costs for people on Medicare. In June 2024 alone, the Biden-Harris administration announced that some seniors and people with disabilities will pay less for 64 drugs available through Medicare Part B thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s rebate program.
  • Give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, which will save taxpayers billions of dollars and lower costs for some of the most popular and expensive prescription drugs. By 2030, 80 of the most expensive prescription drugs will have lower prices because of these negotiations. This month, the Biden-Harris administration announced the new, lower prices for 10 of the highest-cost, most popular drugs taken by nearly 9 million people on Medicare who spent $3.9 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2023. In the first year alone, these newly lowered prices will save seniors $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs and will save taxpayers $6 billion, slashing the list prices of the first ten drugs by 38–79 percent. Amidst negotiations, the Biden-Harris administration has also successfully fended off lawsuit after lawsuit from big drug companies and their allies seeking to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices.
  • Cap drug costs for seniors. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Part D plans are required to cap annual out-of-pocket spending to $2,000 by 2025, giving more than 50 million Americans with Medicare Part D more reassurance and financial stability. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, this particularly helps seniors with serious conditions like cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. Seniors will also continue to save on insulin and vaccines.
  • Cut insulin costs. The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin prices at no more than $35 starting January 2023 — saving seniors up to $1,500 annually. In response to calls from President Biden, the three largest insulin manufacturers announced $35 monthly out-of-pocket cost caps, lowering costs of about 90% of the insulin on the market.
  • Provide free vaccines for seniors. Millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare Part D have access to covered vaccines, such as shingles and Tdap, at no cost. HHS found that over 10 million people on Medicare received a free vaccine thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act.
  • Lower health insurance premiums for millions of Americans. The American Rescue plan lowered costs for millions by increasing financial assistance for people who buy coverage on their own and making financial assistance more widely available to middle-class families, ensuring people purchasing coverage through the ACA marketplaces will not pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for coverage. The Inflation Reduction Act carried on those provisions, and families continue to save an average of $2,400 a year on their health insurance premiums.
  • Cap the amount of money families pay for health insurance. The Inflation Reduction Act ensures families pay no more than 8.5 percent of their income towards coverage.
  • Eliminate premiums for low-wage workers. The Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan ensured no American with an income at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level buying their coverage on the Marketplace will pay a premium.
  • Provide extra savings for low-income seniors. The Inflation Reduction Act expanded the Medicare Extra Help program, and the Biden-Harris administration announced investments in helping up to 3 million eligible seniors and people with disabilities enroll in the Extra Help program in 2023 to benefit from the program’s lower cost premiums, deductibles, and copayments.
  • Expand coverage and build on public health emergency continuous coverage protections. The American Rescue Plan provided robust financial incentives for the states that have not yet implemented Medicaid expansion. 
  • Create a pathway to coverage for new mothers. The American Rescue Plan called on states to extend postpartum coverage under Medicaid from two months to a full year following pregnancy, when most negative health outcomes occur.

Safeguarding and Building on The Affordable Care Act

“This Is A Big F*cking Deal:” Then-Vice President Biden Championed The Affordable Care Act. In 2010, the Obama-Biden administration and Democrats in Congress passed the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, transforming the American health care system. The ACA cemented protections for more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, expanded Medicaid coverage to about 24 million people, and established affordable health care marketplaces now providing quality coverage for over 21.3 million people who buy insurance on their own. Then-Vice President Joe Biden championed the bill, telling then-President Obama, “This is a big f*cking deal.” Not only did President Biden champion the law, but he worked to strengthen it and protect it from Republican attacks: 

  • President Biden opened a Special Enrollment Period, allowing millions of Americans to enroll in affordable coverage. Just days into his presidency, President Biden issued an executive order reopening HealthCare.gov for a special enrollment period to help Americans gain coverage as they continue to suffer from the health and economic impacts of the pandemic. 2.8 million Americans enrolled during the Special Enrollment Period (SEP), with particularly large increases in enrollment for Hispanic, Black, and American Indian and Alaska Native people. 
  • President Biden defended the ACA from lawsuits seeking to dismantle all or part of the law. Less than a month into his Presidency, President Biden defended the Affordable Care Act in California v. Texas, the lawsuit before the Supreme Court to completely dismantle the law. The Biden-Harris administration has also defended a major provision of the ACA that requires no-cost coverage of lifesaving preventive health care services in Braidwood Management v. Becerra.
  • President Biden rolled back the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the ACA and revoke consumer protections. In his first days in office, President Biden directed federal agencies to re-examine Trump-era policies that undermine the ACA. His administration has since taken steps to revoke Trump administration actions undermining the ACA’s consumer protections. In March, the Biden-Harris administration issued a final rule to protect consumers and limit short-term junk plans that do not need to cover pre-existing conditions, often use deceptive marketing practices, and leave American families with staggering medical bills. In April, the Biden-Harris administration issued a final rule under Section 1557 of the ACA to advance health care protections against discrimination on the basis of race, color, natural origin, sex, age, and disability. That same month, the Biden-Harris administration also reversed a Trump-era regulation allowing insurance companies to sell junk plans known as association health plans.
  • President Biden invested millions in ACA outreach. The Biden-Harris administration made historic investments in outreach, announcing $500 million in grants over the next five years for the Navigators program. The program plays a key role in helping people across the country sign up for health care coverage through ACA marketplace plans.
  • President Biden launched executive actions strengthening building on the ACA by protecting people with pre-existing conditions and making it easier for low-income enrollees. The Biden-Harris administration announced new executive actions to lower health care costs and protect people with pre-existing conditions. The new actions eliminate surprise medical bills and limit junk insurance plans that do not need to cover people with pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer, and diabetes. In April, the administration also announced new policies to strengthen the ACA, making it easier for low-income Americans to enroll in coverage, increasing access to routine adult dental services, and setting standards for the time and distance people need to travel for appointments for in-network providers. 
  • President Biden expanded affordable health care to DACA recipients under the ACA. In May, the Biden-Harris administration finalized a policy to expand affordable health care to DACA recipients through the ACA. CMS estimates that this rule could lead to 100,000 previously uninsured DACA gaining coverage. 
  • Under President Biden, a record-breaking 21.3 million Americans signed up for affordable health care through ACA marketplaces. Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration announced that a record 21.3 million Americans have signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces – over nine million more than when President Biden took office. 80 percent of enrollees were also able to find a health plan through the Marketplace for $10 or less per month thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act lowering health insurance premiums.
  • President Biden fixed the “family glitch,” expanding ACA marketplace eligibility to over one million Americans. In October 2022, the Biden-Harris administration issued a final rule to fix the “family glitch,” which blocked millions of families from accessing affordable coverage through the ACA marketplaces – expanding coverage and lowering health care costs for more than one million Americans.

Strengthening and Protecting Medicaid and Medicare

President Biden Has Worked To Strengthen and Protect Medicaid and Medicare. Throughout his Presidency, President Biden has made protecting and strengthening Medicaid and Medicare – which cover hundreds of millions of Americans – a cornerstone of his health agenda. During his tenure, President Biden has:

  • Protected Medicaid from budget cuts.
  • Cracked down on Trump’s disastrous paperwork requirements.
  • Pushed to make it easier for millions of eligible people to enroll in Medicaid, reducing red tape and simplifying applications, verifications, enrollment, and renewals for health care coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
  • Signed legislation guaranteeing 12-month continuous coverage for kids on Medicaid and CHIP and announced a rule standardizing enrollment and renewal processes nationwide. The rule also applied consumer protections from the ACA to Medicaid and CHIP enrollees, like banning lifetime limits and waiting periods.
  • Fought to protect people on Medicaid from disenrollment. In September 2023, the Biden-Harris announced that nearly 500,000 children and adults who were improperly disenrolled from Medicaid and CHIP would regain their coverage thanks to their actions. 
  • Established national Medicaid and CHIP standards for patient wait times and travel distance, ensuring that people who rely on Medicaid have meaningful access to health care services including primary care, behavioral health and substance use disorder services, and OB/GYN care. The Biden-Harris administration also announced minimum staffing standards at nursing homes to promote safety and high-quality care for 1.2 million seniors and people with disabilities. 
  • Pushed for prescription drug transparency in Medicaid. 
  • Cracked down on Medicare Advantage plan providers publishing misleading ads.

Lowering Costs and Improving Health Care

President Biden Has Fought To Lower Drug Costs, Including Inhalers. In December 2023, the Biden-Harris administration announced plans to lower prices for certain high-priced medicines by developing a policy for using federal “march-in rights” to license drugs to other manufacturers who could sell them for less in order to stop price gouging and boost competition between drug manufacturers to lower prices for patients. That same month, the Biden-Harris administration announced a new policy to ensure the best value for taxpayers by establishing a fair pricing standard for medical products purchased by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. In March, President Biden hosted an event to celebrate lower inhaler costs following the FTC’s recent crackdown on drug companies that use improper patents to keep the price of inhalers too high. In response, two drugmakers have capped out-of-pocket costs for some top-selling inhalers at $35 per month. 

President Biden Has Fought To Improve Health Equity and Access to Health Care. President Biden has taken steps during his presidency to address health inequities, issuing several executive orders and new agency rules. On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order calling for the federal government to advance an ambitious, whole-of-government equity agenda. In April 2022, he signed another executive order focused on continued efforts to expand access to affordable, quality health coverage, and in February 2023, President Biden signed a new executive order aiming to strengthen and reaffirm the administration’s commitment to deliver equity. In September 2023, the Biden-Harris administration released a historic proposed rule that strengthens prohibitions against discrimination for people with disabilities in any program or activity receiving funding from HHS.

President Biden Has Worked Tirelessly To Address Maternal Health. President Biden has worked to address the maternal mortality crisis and invest in maternal health. In June 2022, the Biden-Harris administration released a whole-of-government blueprint for combating maternal mortality and morbidity. In March, President Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to prioritize women’s health research, including studying conditions like menopause, arthritis, and heart disease and in April, the Biden-Harris administration invested $105 million in funding to support more than 100 community-based organizations working to improve maternal and infant health.

President Biden Has Prioritized Reproductive Health Care As MAGA Republicans Rolled Out Abortion Bans and Pushed For Limited Contraception Access. In the wake of the MAGA Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and rolling back nearly 50 years of abortion protections, President Biden has made protecting reproductive health care a top priority. Following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, President Biden signed an Executive Order seeking to protect access to reproductive health care services and defend women’s fundamental rights. He has issued executive orders strengthening access to affordable contraception and family planning services and rolling back Trump’s gag rule barring family planning providers from mentioning abortion to patients to receive Title X funding. The Biden-Harris administration also recently released new guidance reminding state Medicaid agencies that they must ensure enrollees have access to comprehensive family planning services.

ashoup
In News, Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: Five Things You Should Know About Kamala Harris and Health Care

The Biden-Harris administration has been instrumental in expanding access to quality health care for millions of Americans while also driving down health care costs. Whether it’s lowering the cost of drugs, capping the monthly cost of insulin, or making sure millions of Americans have access to affordable health insurance, this administration has fought for everyday Americans and won. Vice President Harris has battled for better health care her entire time in public office – as California’s Attorney General, as Senator, and as Vice President. At every level of government, Vice President Harris has been a champion for better and more affordable health care for every American.

Here are some of the highlights from her extensive track record on health care:

  1. Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote which allowed the Inflation Reduction Act to pass the Senate and become law. As Vice President, Kamala Harris has cast the most tie-breaking votes in history including for the seminal pieces of legislation of the Biden-Harris administration, the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. Now two years after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, around 19.7 million Americans are saving on average $700 a month on health insurance, nearly 82 million Americans have access to no-cost vaccines and preventive care through Medicaid and CHIP, 10 million seniors received free vaccinations in 2023 alone, and Medicare is currently negotiating the price of 10 drugs taken by over 9 million seniors. On top of this, the Inflation Reduction Act capped monthly insulin costs at $35 for 3.3 million seniors on Medicare Part D. Surveys show around 1.5 million seniors would have seen cumulative savings of about $734 million in Part D and $27 million in Part B if this cap were in effect in 2020. Without her deciding vote, millions of Americans would be paying more for health care, with some not having any access at all. Now Vice President Harris is fighting to expand the savings from provisions like the $35 insulin cap to all Americans, including those with private coverage. 
  2. Kamala Harris filed 10 amicus briefs defending the Affordable Care Act as California Attorney General, and as Senator co-sponsored 14 pieces of legislation protecting and expanding on the ACA, including legislation expanding preventive care requirements for private and public health insurance. Kamala Harris has a long and consistent history of fighting to defend and expand the ACA. Whether she was defending the constitutionality of the ACA in court, to arguing for the protection of contraception mandates, to ensuring that Republican plans to flood the ACA marketplace with junk plans could not come to fruition, at every turn Harris has stood up for the American people against interest groups wanting to increase their health care costs. Her history on health care is clear, Kamala Harris wants Americans to have lower costs and better care. 
  3. Kamala Harris has always fought for reproductive freedom. During her time in the Senate, Kamala Harris co-sponsored 14 pieces of legislation that would expand and protect the reproductive rights of Americans. From supporting the Women’s Health Protection Act to protecting access to birth control to fighting for the expansion and protection of insurance coverage for abortions, Kamala Harris has a remarkably consistent record when it comes to ensuring Americans have access to quality and affordable reproductive health care. She has fought against the GOP war on reproductive rights since she was California’s AG filing amicus briefs arguing against the dystopian restrictions on abortion access in states like Texas and helping the California Congress create legislation ensuring equal access to reproductive health services to all people within the state. As Vice President, Harris has been a leader standing up for reproductive freedom working to protect access to abortion care and affordable high-quality contraception. 
  4. Kamala Harris has prioritized maternal health and increasing health care equity. Maternal mortality in the U.S. is highest in the industrialized world, with around one-third of maternal deaths occurring during the postpartum period. Studies show that at least a factor of the incredibly high rate of perinatal maternal mortality is due to coverage disruptions during the first year after pregnancy, something which disproportionately affects people of color. As Vice President, Harris has challenged states to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from only two months to a full year. This policy would allow for over 720,000 people annually to see expanded coverage who wouldn’t have been able to access it otherwise. Now, thanks to these efforts, 46 states and Washington DC have adopted full extended postpartum coverage.Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women in the United States and maternal mortality rates — already higher than any other developed country — are still dramatically increasing. Even so, an estimated 80 percent of these deaths are preventable, making the passage of legislation addressing this crisis even more critical. As a Senator, Kamala Harris was involved with creation and proposing of the first Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act to address this crisis in maternal health. The “Momnibus” would direct HHS to establish task forces to address social determinants of health and award grants to innovations in maternity care and maternal mortality tracking. It also would expand federal nutrition programs through increasing the postpartum and breastfeeding periods and reduce specific state funding to jurisdictions which have no laws restricting constraints on incarcerated pregnant people. Every year since 2020, the Momnibus Act has been reintroduced in the Senate. It is perhaps the most essential central piece of legislation existing to address maternal mortality rates and health equity.
  5. As the California Attorney General, Kamala Harris was a part of cases which fined pharmaceutical companies nearly $7.2 billion for deceptive marketing, inflating prices, and harming American consumers. Then-Attorney General Harris broke records throughout her term when it came to settlements holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for deceptive and illegal practices. She was involved in the second largest recovery from a pharmaceutical company and the largest consumer protection settlement reached with a pharmaceutical company. Of the billions she was able to recover due to inflated drug prices and illegal marketing practices, $2.2 billion came from Johnson and Johnson, whose drugs Xarelto, Stelara, Imbruvica are currently up for Medicare price negotiation, $71 million came from Amgen, whose drug Enbrel is currently up for Medicare price negotiation, $68.5 million came from AstraZeneca, whose drug Farxiga is currently up for Medicare price negotiation, and $19.5 million came from Bristol-Myers Squibb, whose drug Eliquis is currently up for Medicare price negotiation.
ashoup
In News, Report, Research

NEW REPORT: GREED WATCH: Big Drug Companies Continue to Put Profits Over People

Big Drug Companies Raked in $22.3 Billion in Profits in the Second Quarter of 2024, Spent Nearly $27 Million on Lobbying, and Spent $62 Billion On Stock Buybacks and Dividends In The First Half of 2024

Big drug companies have raked in eye-popping revenues this year. 14 of the biggest drug companies reported $184.2 billion in revenue between April and June, and over $22 billion in net profits, reflecting the record-high prices these companies charge for drugs.

Drug companies have been allowed to charge whatever they want for too long. They make billions while charging Americans prices up to eight times higher than in other high-income countries like Germany or Australia, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses to make ends meet. Fortunately, the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, lowering drug costs for people on Medicare by finally giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices.

Drug companies are also rewarding their shareholders handsomely rather than making their products more affordable to patients. The fourteen companies have spent hundreds of millions or billions on dividends and stock buybacks this year so far. Additionally, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk spent more lining the pockets of shareholders than on their research and development budgets. Research shows that pharmaceutical manufacturers could lose $1 trillion in revenue over a decade and still be the most profitable industry.

Table 1: Q2 2024 Big Drug Company Revenue, Profits, and Spending

Drug Manufacturer Quarterly Revenue H1 Shareholder Compensation Quarterly Research & Development Spending Quarterly Net Profits
Johnson & Johnson $22.4 billion $4.5 billion $3.4 billion $4.7 billion
Rochea $17.2 billion $11.3 billion $8.2 billion (H1)**** $7.4 billion (H1)****
Merck $16.1 billion $2.4 billion $3.5 billion $5.5 billion
Pfizer $13.3 billion $4.8 billion* $2.7 billion $41 million
AstraZeneca $12.9 billion $3.0 billion* $3.0 billion $1.9 billion
AbbVie $14.5 billion $1.3 billion** $1.9 billion $1.4 billion
Bristol Myers Squibb $12.2 billion $5.0 billion** $2.9 billion $1.7 billion
Novartis $12.5 billion $11.3 billion $2.4 billion $3.2 billion
Sanofib $11.7 billion $5.4 billion $1.7 billion $1.1 billion
Novo Nordiskc $9.8 billion $7.0 billion $2.3 billion $2.9 billion
GSKd $10.0 billion $2.3 billion* $1.9 billion $1.7 billion
Eli Lilly $11.3 billion $1.1 billion* $2.7 billion $3.0 billion
Amgen $8.4 billion $2.4 billion* $1.4 billion $746 million
Bayer $11.9 billion $123.5 million* $1.6 billion N/A
Total $184.2 billion $62.0 billion $28.2 billione $22.3 billione
* dividends only
** share repurchases only
*** unreported or net loss
**** data not reported on a quarterly basis
a CHF converted to USD based on the average quarterly exchange rate of 0.90 CHF to $1.00
b EUR converted to USD based on the average quarterly exchange rate of €0.935 to $1.00
c DKK converted to USD based on the average quarterly exchange rate of 6.971 kr. to $1.00
d GBP converted to USD based on the average quarterly exchange rate of £0.791 to $1.00
e  Roche H1 numbers included in quarterly total, since Q1/Q2 numbers are unavailable

Big Drug Companies Remain Highly Profitable & Expanded Investment Activity This Quarter, Countering the False Claims that Medicare Negotiation Undermines Innovation.

In the year following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, drug companies increased investment in bringing new drugs to market through higher spending on research, development, and acquisitions. In fact, following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, investment in research and development spending reached $161 billion in 2023, a 16.6 percent increase over 2022 and a nearly 50 percent increase since 2018. And despite the big drug companies arguing that the new law disincentivizes investment in small molecule drugs, a recent investor report confirms that the opposite is true. 

Big drug companies continue to harp on the Inflation Reduction Act, pushing lawsuits to halt Medicare Negotiation and claiming it hurts innovation – all while touting innovative new drug portfolios to Wall Street:

  • Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato touted his company’s “relentless focus on advancing the next wave of medical innovation” and admitted that he anticipated his business “growing 3% plus next year and then 5% to 7% out through 2030” – despite Medicare Negotiation impacting three separate drugs manufactured by Johnson & Johnson. The company also spent approximately $17 billion purchasing new products for its pipeline in the first six months of 2024.
  • AstraZeneca executive Dave Frederickson admitted, “I think that IRA represents a couple of headwinds that we’ve spoken through, I think that they’re manageable, and I think we’ve got a portfolio that allows us to grow through it” – despite suing to overturn the Negotiation Program so they can continue to charge whatever they want for their drugs. The company also spent $2.4 billion to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in June 2024 and over $1 billion to acquire Amolyt Pharma in July 2024.
  • Merck CEO Robert Davis bragged about “the growing breadth of our pipeline,” noting, “We have the potential to bring as many new drugs to market in the next five years, as we launched over the next ten years, across a greater number of therapeutic areas and modalities and with a significant proportion having blockbuster-plus potential” – all despite suing the federal government to halt Medicare Negotiation. The company also acquired two additional companies for a combined $2.6 billion in 2024.
  • Eli Lilly CEO David A. Ricks attributed massive quarterly revenue growth of 36 percent year-over-year in part to the continued success of Jardiance, a drug whose list price has doubled since it launched over a decade ago. Ricks serves on the board of directors for pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA, which is suing to block Medicare Negotiation so drug companies can continue charging whatever they want for drugs. The company also announced an agreement to acquire Morphic for approximately $3.2 billion this quarter.

The Companies Manufacturing Drugs Being Negotiated By Medicare Brought In Billions in Revenue and Profits from Taxpayers and Patients and Spent It Lavishly To Reward Shareholders.

This quarter, the ten drugs selected for Medicare’s first round of negotiations brought in $18.1 billion in revenue, while the companies that manufacture these drugs raked in $16.2 billion in combined profits and spent nearly $25 billion rewarding shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and dividends:

  • Amgen, the manufacturer of Enbrel, reported $8.4 billion in revenue and spent $1.2 billion on dividends for investors. Amgen has increased the price of Enbrel by 701 percent since it launched.
  • AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of Farxiga, reported $12.9 billion in revenue and $1.9 billion in net profits. AstraZeneca has increased the price of Farxiga by nearly 87 percent since it launched.
  • Bristol Myers Squibb, which jointly manufactures Eliquis with Pfizer, raked in $1.7 billion in profits this quarter. Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer have increased the price of Eliquis by 124 percent since it launched.
  • Johnson & Johnson, which manufactures three of the ten drugs with lower prices being negotiated – Xarelto, Stelara, and Imbruvica – made $22.4 billion in revenue and $4.7 billion in net profits, while spending $136 million on stock buybacks. Johnson & Johnson has increased the price of Stelara by nearly 185 percent since it launched.
  • Merck, which manufactures Januvia, raked in $16.1 billion in revenue and $5.5 billion in net profits and spent more than $251 million on shareholder compensation. Merck has increased the price of Januvia by 293 percent since it launched.
  • Novartis, which manufactures Entresto, reported $12.5 billion in revenue and $3.2 billion in net profits while spending $11.3 billion on investors. Novartis has increased the price of Entresto by 83 percent since it launched.
  • Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Fiasp/NovoLog, far exceeded even their earnings expectations, bringing in $9.8 billion in revenue and $2.9 billion in net profits while spending $2.5 billion on shareholder compensation. Novo Nordisk has increased the price of the drug by 82 percent since it launched.
  • AbbVie, which jointly markets Imbruvica with Johnson & Johnson, brought in $14.5 billion in revenue and $1.4  billion in net profits this quarter. AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson have increased the price of the drug by 114 percent since it launched.
  • Eli Lilly, which jointly markets Jardiance with privately-held Boehringer Ingelheim, brought in $11.3 billion in revenue and $3.0 billion in net profits while rewarding shareholders with over $1 billion in dividends. Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim have increased the price of the drug by 103 percent since it launched.
  • Pfizer, which jointly markets Eliquis with Bristol Myers Squibb, brought in $13.3 billion in revenue and $41 million in net profits and spent $2.4 billion rewarding shareholders with dividend payments.

Table 2: Q2 2024 Revenue For Drugs Selected For Medicare Negotiation

Selected Drug Manufacturer Condition(s) Treated Quarterly Revenue Total Revenue Since Launch
Eliquis Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer Blood clots $5.3 billion $117.3 billion
Stelara Johnson & Johnson Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis $2.9 billion $69.7 billion
Entresto Novartis Heart failure $1.9 billion $24 billion
Farxiga AstraZeneca Diabetes, Heart failure, and Chronic kidney disease $1.9 billion $24.7 billion
Imbruvica AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson Blood cancers $1.6 billion $61.7 billion
Jardiance Eli Lilly Type 2 diabetes $768.6 million* $11.2 billion*
Fiasp/NovoLog Novo Nordisk Diabetes $554.9 million $45 billion
Enbrel Amgen Rheumatoid arthritis, Psoriasis, and Psoriatic arthritis $909 million $85.8 billion
Xarelto Johnson & Johnson, Bayer Blood clots $1.5 billion $68.6 billion
Januvia Merck Type 2 diabetes $629 million $54.3 billion
Totals  $18.1 billion $562.3 billion
*Revenue for Jardiance, which is co-manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim, only includes Eli Lilly.

Big Drug Companies Are Suing to Block Medicare from Negotiating Lower Prices and Spending Millions On Lobbying. 

Big drug companies are suing to ban Medicare from negotiating lower prescription drug prices for millions of Americans. If they get their way, patients will pay more so the drug companies can make more money. Seven big drug companies have filed separate lawsuits against the federal government to overturn the Inflation Reduction Act, and multiple lobbying groups representing big drug companies have also filed lawsuits. These lawsuits have already faced serious setbacks; drug companies are zero for six in the courts. This quarter alone, a New Jersey district court rejected Novo Nordisk’s case, and a federal judge in Connecticut rejected Jardiance co-manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim’s case.

Meanwhile, these same drug companies and their allies are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to protect their profits. 16 of the biggest drug companies spent $26.8 million this quarter on lobbying. Big drug companies have already been increasing their lobbying efforts dramatically, this year with industry group PhRMA’s advocacy spending growing 20 percent last quarter compared to 2024.

Table 3: Big Drug Companies Spent Nearly $27 Million On Lobbying In Q2 2024

Manufacturer Selected Drug Quarterly Lobbying Spending
Merck Januvia $3.1 million
Amgen Enbrel $2.7 million
Eli Lilly Jardiance $2.6 million
Pfizer Eliquis $2.5 million
Bayer Xarelto $2.2 million
Roche N/A $2.0 million
GSK N/A $1.5 million
Gilead N/A $1.5 million
Johnson & Johnson Imbruvica, Stelara, Xarelto $1.3 million
Novo Nordisk Fiasp/NovoLog $1.2 million
Novartis Entresto $1.1 million
AstraZeneca Farxiga $1.1 million
Boehringer Ingelheim Jardiance $1.0 million
Sanofi (US) N/A $860,000
Astellas (US) N/A $770,000
Bristol Myers Squibb Eliquis $740,000
AbbVie Imbruvica $580,000
Total $26.8 million

 

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