Earlier this month, Kamala Harris’ campaign Announced More than $200 million was raised in the first week of her candidacy after Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, with much larger, but unofficial, in-kind contributions made through the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Announced A new “Premium Stabilization Demonstration” aimed at minimizing premium increases for prescription drug insurance for seniors during the final stages of the campaign.
This is a continuation of a pattern: For the third time in recent years, Democrats have used a bailout for health insurers — a bailout of questionable legality — to shield themselves from political trouble.
Current Relief Measures
CMS’ announcement came as changes to prescription drug benefits passed by Democrats in the so-called Inflation Control Act of 2022. A combination of benefit enhancements, including lowering the maximum out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors, and structural changes to benefit design have nearly tripled the average monthly bid for stand-alone Part D plans compared to last year.
Not all of that increase will be passed on to seniors’ premiums, but CMS Acknowledged Increased “diversity” in plan bidding, “resulting in fluctuating premiums.” [that] “It could lead to disruptive enrollment changes.” As a result, CMS announced a demonstration project in which Washington would assume greater responsibility for plan cost overruns and provide subsidies directly to insurers.
CMS said the “additional premium stability” provided by these relief measures “will [plan] With sign-ups for 2025 opening on Oct. 15, just weeks before the November election, the goal seems clear: Avoid shocking seniors with high premiums or plan cancellations as they head to the polls.
Borrow the Obama Rescue Plan Textbook
In terms of throwing taxpayer money at insurers to prevent politically unpopular disruptions, Biden’s CMS is following a pattern pioneered by none other than Barack Obama. In November 2010, just months after Obamacare was passed, CMS announced a national demonstration project to increase payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Found The $8.4 billion demo is[ed] “All other Medicare demonstrations … have estimated budget impacts.”
Given question The GAO recommended that CMS end the free Medicare Advantage program over the “statutory authority of the agencies conducting the demonstration,” but the administration saw fit to ignore this. Attacking Medicareespecially when they used Medicare Advantage to fund Obamacare, officials feared seniors could lose their insurance and benefits before the 2012 elections. If funneling taxpayer money to insurance companies in legally questionable ways can buy peace, so be it.
The Obama administration returned to this strategy in late 2013, Millions of plan cancellation notifications and Doesn’t work Healthcare.gov has created new political headaches. Politifact reports:Lie of the Year” — “If you like the plan, you can keep it.CMS announced that it would allow states to maintain non-compliant plans that do not meet all of Obamacare’s new regulations.
In addition Violate The administration’s decision to commit to the president’s constitutional duty not to enforce federal law for political reasons Putting insurance companies at riskThey had priced the Exchange’s products with the assumption that people who had pre-Obamacare plans would be forced to buy new, more comprehensive coverage, but now healthy individuals could avoid buying the more expensive plans.
In 2013, as in 2010, the administration again resorted to bailouts. announcement Regarding the option for states to allow non-compliant plans, CMS said it “intends to explore ways to modify the Risk Corridor Program in a way that would help ameliorate unanticipated changes in premium revenue.” Thankfully, Congress has Preventive measures were taken This particular bailout illustrates a continuing pattern of using taxpayer money to cover politically unpopular choices.
Democrats love throwing money at problems.
Notice also how the left-wing supporters of socialist health care are silent when Democrats decide to funnel taxpayer money to insurance companies. Have people like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) ever spoke out at all for these remedies? Of course not. To them, winning elections is far more important than little things like being true to their beliefs.
To be fair, the Trump administration discussed free Medicare during its presidency, but a combination of logistical obstacles and conservative opposition on this and other issues prevented it from coming to fruition. So as Harris tries to tout her efforts to raise drug prices between now and November 5, conservatives should ask why Democrats always resort to bailouts to whitewash the flaws of our government-run system.
After all, if the Anti-Inflation Act does a good job of keeping drug prices in check, why is CMS giving billions of dollars to insurance companies with powers it likely doesn’t have and funds that taxpayers can’t afford?
