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“Democrats are trying to take back an issue Donald Trump effectively stole from them during the 2016 presidential campaign: the high cost of prescription drugs.
Trump repeatedly railed against pharmaceutical companies during the campaign and after... — Democrats are trying to take back an issue Donald Trump effectively stole from them during the 2016 presidential campaign: the high cost of prescription drugs.
Trump repeatedly railed against pharmaceutical companies during the campaign and after taking office, promising that prices would drop and accusing drug companies of “getting away with murder.” But more than a year into his tenure, Trump has taken only limited action, and drug prices continue to climb.
While Trump this week is again slated to deliver a delayed speech on drug prices, Democrats are pushing proposals they hope will compare favorably to Trump’s and give them the upper hand on an issue polls consistently rank as among voters’ top concerns.
via Washington Post.
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Source: bit.ly

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His administration has been in place for an entire year and so far hasn’t taken any serious action to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. A year after President Trump took office, the United States still pays more for prescription drugs than... — His administration has been in place for an entire year and so far hasn’t taken any serious action to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. A year after President Trump took office, the United States still pays more for prescription drugs than most other nations.
Trump’s previous Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, seemed more concerned with undermining Obamacare than lowering drug prices — until he left office under a cloud of scandal.
Alex Azar, who was just sworn-in this week as Trump’s new Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, is a former executive at Eli Lilly, Inc. As a Big Pharma exec, Azar presided over prescription drug cost increases — and the company was scrutinized for allegedly fixing the price of insulin on his watch. He seems hardly the ideal candidate to lead a crusade against overcharging. Yet, Azar promised after his swearing-in to bring down prescription drug prices, echoing the President’s so-far empty pledges.
**Read more from this blog post by clicking here.**

Source: bit.ly politics donald trump trump alex azar seniors rx drugs prescription drugs elderly retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform p2 older americans health care healthcare

“via twitter.
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Related Reading:
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.“The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary... — via twitter.
**Related Reading:**
**How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.**
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced.
Lower-Cost Prescription Drugs.
Preventive Services and Annual Wellness Visit.
Lower Medicare Part B Premiums.
Medicare Fraud, Waste and Abuse.

Source: bit.ly politics health healthcare health care seniors ACA obamacare affordable care act p2 elderly older americans rx drugs prescription drugs hospitals white house trump donald trump

“President Donald Trump is off the mark in taking credit for a drop in drug prices that he calls unprecedented in half a century.
TRUMP: “Our ambitious campaign to reduce the price of prescription drugs has produced the largest decline in drug prices... — President Donald Trump is off the mark in taking credit for a drop in drug prices that he calls unprecedented in half a century.
TRUMP: “Our ambitious campaign to reduce the price of prescription drugs has produced the largest decline in drug prices in more than 51 years.” — remarks at North Carolina rally Monday night.
THE FACTS: He’s exaggerating his influence on drug prices, which haven’t fallen for brand-name drugs, the area that worries consumers the most.
Most of the Trump administration’s “ambitious campaign” to reduce drug prices has yet to be completed. Major regulations are still in the works and legislation has yet to be passed by Congress. A rule requiring drug makers to disclose prices in TV ads has been blocked for now by the courts.
via Associated Press.
**Related Reading:**
**Medicare Must Be Allowed to Negotiate Drug Prices.**
People are dying — or their quality of life is poor — because high drug prices are forcing seniors to go without life-saving medications. It’s time to end pharma’s drug price gouging. It’s time to stop forcing seniors to cut their pills in half or skip a dose. That’s why the National Committee urges the Senate to approve legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.

Source: bit.ly donald trump trump politics rx drugs prescription drugs prescription drug costs seniors elderly older americans medicare retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform earned benefits healthcare health care

“The Trump administration proposed on Monday to cut costs for Medicare by reducing the number of prescription drugs that must be made available to people with cancer, AIDS, depression, schizophrenia and certain other conditions.
Under the proposal,... — The Trump administration proposed on Monday to cut costs for Medicare by reducing the number of prescription drugs that must be made available to people with cancer, AIDS, depression, schizophrenia and certain other conditions.
Under the proposal, health insurance plans that provide drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries would no longer have to cover all of the drugs in six “protected classes.”
via New York Times.
**Related Reading:**
**Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.**
At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.

Source: bit.ly politics medicare rx drugs prescription drugs seniors retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform p2 elderly donald trump trump healthcare health care

“The Trump administration is quietly dismantling the Affordable Care Act, taking a series of regulatory steps that will make it easier for insurance companies to sell plans that exclude patients with preexisting conditions or don’t cover basic... — The Trump administration is quietly dismantling the Affordable Care Act, taking a series of regulatory steps that will make it easier for insurance companies to sell plans that exclude patients with preexisting conditions or don’t cover basic services like maternity care, mental health treatment, and prescription drugs.
Republicans weren’t able to repeal Obamacare in Congress. Now the Trump administration appears to be settling for the second-best thing: weakening Obamacare’s insurance regulations, changes that will hurt Americans who are older and sicker while benefiting the young and the healthy.
via Vox.
**Related Reading:**
**How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.**
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced. Improvements made in the ACA to Medicare preventive services and prescription drug coverage have lowered the out-of-pocket costs of millions of seniors. Below are some of the ways that the Affordable Care Act is helping seniors.
Lower-Cost Prescription Drugs.
Preventive Services and Annual Wellness Visit.
Lower Medicare Part B Premiums.
Improvements for Medicare Advantage Plan Members.

politics obamacare affordable care act healthcare health care ACA p2 older americans elderly donald trump trump seniors Rx drugs prescription drugs

“Once in a while, Donald Trump will remember he promised American voters he would bring down drug prices. But Trump’s actual agenda seems to be little more than a smattering of tweets and a white paper lacking needed details.
He can’t totally forget... — Once in a while, Donald Trump will remember he promised American voters he would bring down drug prices. But Trump’s actual agenda seems to be little more than a smattering of tweets and a white paper lacking needed details.
He can’t totally forget it because it’s popular: Polls show that voters consider lowering drug prices one of their top issues. Trump deployed pretty strong rhetoric on the campaign trail and even said big pharma was “getting away with murder” right before he took the oath of office.
But his administration is yet to propose anything that would really threaten the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, one of the world’s largest pharma companies, Pfizer, recently announced price increases for 100 drugs — shortly after Trump had said that drug companies would soon make huge, voluntarily price cuts.
via VOX.
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nyti.ms

Winners and Losers Under Medicare Drug Plan in Trump Budget

The Associated Press

Some Medicare beneficiaries would face higher prescription drug costs under President Donald Trump’s budget even as the sickest patients save thousands of dollars, a complex trade-off that may make it harder to sell Congress on the plan in an election year.
In budget documents, the administration said its proposals strike a balance between improving the popular “Part D” prescription benefit for the 42 million seniors enrolled, while correcting design flaws that increase program costs for taxpayers. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is expected to testify on the proposal later this week in Congress.
Trump has made bringing down drug costs a top priority, but his administration’s plan would create winners and losers. The high cost of medicines is the leading health care concern among consumers.
Independent experts said the administration’s plan will help beneficiaries with the highest prescription drug costs, an estimated 1 million of the sickest patients, those whose individual bills reach a total of more than $8,418 apiece.
But about 4.5 million seniors in the group just behind them could end up spending more of their own money. That’s because the budget proposes a change in how Medicare accounts for manufacturer discounts received by patients whose total bills range between $3,750 and $8,418. They could wind up paying about $1,000 more.
via New York Times.

Related Reading:

President Trump released an FY 2019 budget today proposing deep spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and myriad other federal programs that help older Americans, the poor, and people with disabilities.

Some $500 billion in Medicare spending reductions over ten years, most of which would affect providers and suppliers, but could potentially impact beneficiaries, too.

Source: bit.ly medicare health care politics budget donald trump trump earned benefits social insurance healthcare p2 older americans seniors Rx drugs prescription drugs social security congress alex azar

Makers of brand-name drugs called out by the Trump administration for potentially stalling generic competition have hiked their prices by double-digit percentages since 2012 and cost Medicare and Medicaid nearly $12 billion in 2016, a Kaiser Health News analysis has found.
As part of President Donald Trump’s promise to curb high drug prices, the Food and Drug Administration posted a list of pharmaceutical companies that makers of generics allege refused to let them buy the drug samples needed to develop their products. For approval, the FDA requires so-called bioequivalence testing using samples to demonstrate that generics are the same as their branded counterparts.
The analysis shows that drug companies that may have engaged in what FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called “shenanigans” to delay the entrance of cheaper competitors onto the market have indeed raised prices and cost taxpayers more money over time.
via Kaiser Health News.

Related Reading:

Trump Favors Big Pharma Profits Over Seniors Prescription Drug Savings.

Trump’s new proposal will ring hollow with America’s seniors, who understand the only way they will see the prices they pay at the pharmacy come down is for the president and Congress to break the choke-hold that Big Pharma has on our country’s drug pricing policies – and pass legislation that gives Medicare full control over negotiation.

Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.

At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.

Source: bit.ly politics medicare prescription drugs p2 elderly older americans rx drugs donald trump trump healthcare health care seniors retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform earned benefits

“President Donald Trump on Friday will unveil a sweeping strategy for lowering drug prices that aims to reshape Medicare, boost competition and pressure foreign governments that the White House believes are “freeloading” off of the U.S.... — President Donald Trump on Friday will unveil a sweeping strategy for lowering drug prices that aims to reshape Medicare, boost competition and pressure foreign governments that the White House believes are “freeloading” off of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, two senior administration officials said Thursday night.
The long-awaited plan represents a mix of existing policies laid out in the Trump administration’s 2019 budget blueprint as well as some new ideas designed to drive down drug prices and lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs.
via Politico.
**Related Reading:**
**Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.**
At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.
Allowing the federal government to negotiate for lower Medicare drug prices and restoring discounts for low-income beneficiaries make sense because these proposals save money without shifting costs to beneficiaries and have broad public support.

Source: bit.ly politics rx drugs prescription drugs medicare health care healthcare p2 seniors elderly older americans trump donald trump white house republicans earned benefits retirement retirees retirement crisis

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure becomes the first black woman to lead the agency that oversees #Medicare and #Medicaid. She is a major improvement over President Trump’s CMS administrator, who undermined Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/us/politics/chiquita-brooks-lasure-medicare-medicaid.html @CMSGov

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure becomes the first Black administrator confirmed to lead Medicare and Medicaid.

The vote was 55 to 44, with five Republicans joining Democrats to support her confirmation.

nytimes.com

NCPSSM — Democrats are trying to take back an issue Donald...

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.