[CTC] Trump Says Discount Cards Will Soon Be Mailed to Seniors to Help Pay for Prescription Drugs

[Arthur Stamoulis]

"The cost of the cards—which would likely stretch into the billions of dollars—would come from savings made from a Medicare waiver program, the official said, adding that those costs would also be offset by a drug-pricing program.  That proposed drug-pricing program, known as most-favored-nation pricing, would ensure that the U.S. doesn’t pay more for drugs in Medicare than other countries pay."


https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-discount-cards-will-soon-be-mailed-to-seniors-to-help-pay-for-prescription-drugs-11600988649?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=14 <https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-discount-cards-will-soon-be-mailed-to-seniors-to-help-pay-for-prescription-drugs-11600988649?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=14>

Trump Says Discount Cards Will Soon Be Mailed to Seniors to Help Pay for Prescription Drugs

By Stephanie Armour, Andrew Restuccia
09/24/2020
 
WASHINGTON—President Trump laid out his health-care vision on Thursday, pledging to send millions of senior citizens discount cards to help pay for the cost of prescription drugs without offering details on how the federal government would implement such a plan.

“I will always take care of our wonderful senior citizens,” the president said during a speech in Charlotte, N.C.

He said 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail that can be used to help pay for up to $200 in prescription drug costs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that would implement the plan, referred a request for comment seeking more details to the White House.

A White House official said cards will be mailed out in the coming weeks and could be used to pay for the cost of prescription-drug copays. The cost of the cards—which would likely stretch into the billions of dollars—would come from savings made from a Medicare waiver program, the official said, adding that those costs would also be offset by a drug-pricing program.

That proposed drug-pricing program, known as most-favored-nation pricing, would ensure that the U.S. doesn’t pay more for drugs in Medicare than other countries pay. Mr. Trump on Sept. 13 signed an executive order expanding the proposal to cover more drugs <https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-executive-order-takes-new-aim-at-drug-prices-11600041097> than an earlier version covered. That program hasn’t been launched yet.
“This is stretching the demonstration authority much more than I’ve ever seen,” said Larry Levitt, an executive vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-care research nonprofit, referring to the pilot program. Mr. Levitt said the president is promising to spend money the administration doesn’t yet have through the program.

The announcement comes after the Trump administration sought to negotiate a similar discount-card program with drug companies, but the drug industry’s main trade group, PhRMA, walked away from the discussions. “One-time savings cards will neither provide lasting help, nor advance the fundamental reforms necessary to help seniors better afford their medicines,” an official at PhRMA said last week.

Mr. Trump also signed two executive orders at the event. One of the orders declares it is the policy of the U.S. to provide insurance protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. The president also signed an executive order directing Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to work with Congress to get legislation passed that would protect patients from surprise medical bills. These bills often occur when people are treated at a hospital in their insurance network by doctors who aren’t in the network.

Insurance companies are banned from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions by the Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of President Barack Obama. But those protections—and Obamacare itself—are at risk of being struck down as part of a lawsuit the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Nov. 10 <https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-vacancy-makes-health-care-leading-issue-in-2020-elections-11600948807>, a week after Election Day.
The Trump administration backs many aspects of the suit, which was brought by a coalition of right-leaning states led by Texas, arguing that the decision by Congress to end the law’s penalty for not having coverage makes the entire ACA invalid.

The president focused on health care at a rally Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., pointing to actions his administration has already taken.

While the orders on Thursday signal the priorities of the administration, private-sector specialists said the president is limited on what he can do on his own. “An executive order can’t create authority out of thin air” to protect people with pre-existing conditions, said Mr. Levitt.

“The ACA provides ample authority to protect people with pre-existing conditions,” Mr. Levitt added, “but the whole premise of this exercise is that the ACA might be overturned.”

Health care has become a significant issue during the current presidential campaign. Democrats stepped up calls for Mr. Trump to release a comprehensive health plan should the ACA be struck down. The president has repeatedly promised a plan <https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-weighs-september-rollout-of-health-plan-11564849221> but has yet to unveil one.
Mr. Azar on a Thursday call with reporters didn’t lay out any specifics about how protections for people with pre-existing conditions would be achieved without the ACA, or whether it would seek to bar insurers from charging more to people with certain pre-existing conditions.

On surprise billing, Mr. Trump will instruct Mr. Azar to investigate executive and regulatory actions that can be taken if legislation to restrain the practice isn’t passed by Jan. 1, the secretary said. “That pathway we’ll be working, I don’t have details for you on that at this point,” Mr. Azar said. Congress has been pursuing legislation to curb surprise medical bills but has yet to agree on a solution despite urging from the president.

The actions are part of a White House effort to ramp up Mr. Trump’s speeches and actions on health care as polls show it is a top issue for voters, according to people familiar with the planning.

Mr. Trump seeks to draw a contrast with Democrats while reassuring voters the administration is prepared if the courts abolish the ACA.

The Trump administration has already unveiled new efforts on a range of health-related issues, from improving kidney health to requiring hospitals to provide information to patients about negotiated rates with insurers.

Voters saw Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as better on health care than Mr. Trump by 53% to 31%, according to September polling by The Wall Street Journal/NBC News.

Even if Mr. Trump could find a way to protect people with pre-existing conditions, premiums would likely soar without the billions of dollars in ACA subsidies that attract healthier people to the market, or without the ACA’s subsidies that draw in younger, healthier consumers who offset the costs of older, sicker people who enroll in plans.

Democrats and their allies among progressive health-care groups are trying to impress upon voters that health coverage under the ACA and Medicaid expansion, which has extended health insurance to about 20 million Americans, is on the line.

“President Trump’s latest do-nothing executive orders are just another attempt to hide his disastrous record on health care ahead of the most important health-care election in American history,” said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, an ACA advocacy group.

Mr. Biden’s health proposal includes expanding on the ACA and instituting a public option, which would offer government-run health programs similar to Medicare. He has also said he would bar health-care providers from charging patients out-of-network rates when the patient doesn’t have control over which provider the patient sees.


Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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