***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2024 AT 12:30PM PT// 3:30 PM EST***
The Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare power to negotiate drug prices for the first time
Los Angeles, CA – Dr. Meena Seshamani, MD, Ph.D., Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Director of the Center for Medicare, will join Protect Our Care California and local seniors and advocates to discuss how Medicare negotiations will lower prescription drug costs for seniors in California. The Biden administration recently announced the next phase of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program, a step which will lower prices for some of the highest-cost prescription drugs that seniors rely on to treat conditions like cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders – conditions that disproportionately impact women, communities of color, and people in rural areas. Speakers will explain what this means for seniors in California and how lowering the cost of health care and prescription drugs remain central to the Inflation Reduction Act’s popularity, and the importance of protecting these policies.
Speakers will also highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act, including:
- Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices
- A $35 monthly copay cap on insulin
- Free shingles and other essential vaccinations
- $2,000 out-of-pocket caps on prescription drugs beginning in 2025
This event comes as drug companies and their allies are trying to derail health care policies that will bring down costs. Pharmaceutical companies are suing the federal government to protect their massive profits by halting the Medicare negotiation provision while their Congressional allies are attempting to repeal it. President Biden and his administration are already working to expand these cost savings to more Americans, and hold Big Pharma accountable. If opponents of the Affordable Care Act get their way, they would throw millions of people off of Medicaid, keep drug costs high for seniors, and make health care coverage more expensive for families purchasing coverage on their own through the Affordable Care Act.
WHO: Dr. Meena Seshamani, MD, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Medicare
U.S. Representative Judy Chu
Dr. Jerry Abraham
Representative from California Alliance for Retired Americans
Nicole Serrano, Protect Our Care California
WHEN: Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 12:30 PM PT // 3:30 PM EST
WHERE: Plummer Park Community Center, Art Room 2, 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046
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