It’s been almost one year since the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester is highlighting its impact on drug costs.
Blunt-Rochester joined members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and several other healthcare and senior service organizations at the MOT Senior Center in Middletown Friday.
“Even as we were negotiating this incredibly transformational bill, we really had to hear the voices of all those folks that are part of this system," Blunt-Rochester says. "Everyone from pharmacists, to those who produce the pharmaceuticals, to the stakeholders and the families of individuals. We have to balance innovation with cost and quality.”
The estimated impact is around 63,000 Delawareans saving an average of $449 per year on prescription drug costs. Most of those costs are associated with insulin copays, now capped at $35 for a month’s supply.
There are also many improvements to Medicare Part D including zero-dollar cost sharing for vaccines, a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap, and expanding low-income subsidies to people with incomes up to 150% of the poverty level.
Acting Region III Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Melissa Herd says with Medicare soon to be negotiating drug prices, people won’t be as likely to try and ration their medications.
“And it impacts the people who need it the most," Herd says. "Medicare has been the backbone of this country for over 50 years.”
Kevin Musto owns Atlantic Apothecary, a small pharmacy in Smyrna and Camden. He says while he wants patients to save money, his biggest concern is that insurance companies will see it as an opportunity to underpay the pharmacy dispensing the medications.
“My biggest concern is that pharmacies are going to start turning people away who need medication because they don’t want to lose money just so that the insurance company can profit on the back end of it," Musto says.
Musto adds many smaller pharmacies are closing as a result, but notes that a lot of their patients in Kent and Sussex County don’t have a primary care physician, so the pharmacy is their next stop for medical advice.
Medicare will announce the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation by September 1.
