Biden Used the IRA to Put Green Energy Policy Above Seniors

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) fails to deliver on its promises while prioritizing the liberal green agenda over the health and well-being of Americans, plain and simple. While Biden has repeatedly boasted this law as “transformative” and helping meet US climate goals, create good-paying jobs, and reduce healthcare costs, the truth is that the IRA is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

It cleverly uses the guise of positive benefits to raid funds from Medicare coffers in order to implement the left’s radical climate policies at the expense of taxpayers and patients. Patients have historically been pleased with Medicare and the benefits the program provides.

A 2021 study found that Medicare-covered adults reported satisfaction with the program, had similar access to care as privately insured adults, and fewer reported cost-related problems. Since the passage of the IRA, Medicare coverage has gone downhill quickly. In the Part D program, which helps cover prescription drugs for enrollees, average monthly premiums have increased by 21% this year  and are expected to climb even higher in 2025.

Furthermore, the number of prescription drug plans (PDPs) available to beneficiaries has decreased by 11% in the same timeframe and is now at the lowest-ever point since the program's inception in 2006. One major health plan has already indicated that it will exit the Part D market next year, a move that could put nearly 200,000 seniors on the hunt for a new plan. Part D insurers are also adding more cumbersome prior authorization requirements because of the IRA placing providers, pharmacists and patients in ever more time consuming stressful situations—ultimately further cutting patient access. These detrimental impacts on the program all have major ramifications for patients and their access to life-saving medication.

So why all the changes to this vital program? They probably have something to do with the $280 billion that was stolen from the program and redirected  toward green policies, like a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit. This has caused some to joke that Medicare enrollees would have to purchase a Tesla to see the impacts of the law’s prescription drug savings.

A recent study by America’s New Majority Project found that this is extremely unpopular among voters; 83% of survey respondents supported requiring savings from Medicare to remain in the program. Medicare beneficiaries often have low—and fixed—incomes.

In 2023, the median per capita income among Medicare beneficiaries ages 65-74 was $39,850. This number declined with age, dropping to $28,650 for adults 85 and up. Seniors on this program cannot afford for their premiums to surge, to make Tesla buyers—even richer. In a reverse-Robinhood maneuver, the IRA has raided a critical program that helps seniors access life-saving medication to fund liberal initiatives that will line the pockets of the wealthy.

A program that once helped make healthcare services accessible and affordableis being filled with restrictions and price controls, and only 15% of the resulting savings will be used to fund a few (relatively inexpensive) benefits. President Biden has taken his climate agenda to an entirely new level with the IRA.

This law has made it clear that the current administration is willing to put sensical policymaking aside to implement liberal policies, deprioritizing the health of some of America’s sickest patients. Congress must step in to right the wrongs of the IRA that put patients in need at the back of the line and ensure any savings from Medicare remain in Medicare.

Randall Ray is the Chairman of Senior Consumers of America.