The President’s executive order comes as the GOP plans cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
TAMPA, Fla. — Buried in the wave of executive orders from President Donald Trump is one that eliminates a program aimed at lowering prescription drug prices.
Only Congress can repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that now lets Medicare negotiate drug prices. Still, some are worried cuts could come that hurt seniors and people with disabilities.
Karen Clay’s job as a health care advocate is to gather stories for Florida Voices for Health. She’s on Medicare and is concerned after one of Trump’s first actions was to rescind a Biden executive order that sought to cap some generic drug prices at $2 a month, among other plans.
“She says, ‘I’m 77,’” Clays says as she reads a letter she recently received. “’I’ve been disabled for over 45 years. I live on Social Security, Medicare, partly Medicaid. If there were any cuts, plain and simple, I could not survive.”
The president included the order along with dozens more as “the first of many steps the United States federal government will take to repair our institutions and our economy.”
The action won’t directly impact current drug prices but it could be a signal that other Biden-era health care expansions could be cut. Leaders in Congress have discussed cuts to Medicaid disability waivers and ending subsidies for insurance purchased through the federal marketplace set up during the Affordable Care Act and expanded during Biden’s term.
“We talk about healthcare reforms, we talk about welfare reforms,” said House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington during last year’s debt ceiling fight. “Rein in this out-of-control spending, especially the mandatory spending that’s driving the debt [and] to restore fiscal responsibility.”
The shift in tone makes Clay think action will soon follow.
“We have to just keep talking to our legislators,” she says. “We’ve got to get individuals to share their stories. And we just have to fight.”
As it stands now — many seniors on Medicare should see savings this year on prescription drugs. Out-of-pocket spending for drugs is capped at $2,000 a year for “Part D” enrollees. And there’s currently no change to the $35-a-month cap on insulin.
