CAHC’s President, Joel White, spoke with Inside Health Policy about CMS’s decision to withhold preliminary Medicare Part D premiums, which are typically released in July, as CMS hopes the newly announced demonstration program will reduce these premiums.
Joel White, president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC), says that while politicians had said the IRA would limit the growth of the base beneficiary premium in Part D to 6% per year from 2024 through 2029, that’s not what’s taking place.
“CMS is using extraordinary measures to ensure premiums don’t skyrocket before the election. To do so, they are using questionable regulatory authority to raid Medicare’s trust fund (SMI) to buy down premiums. It’s a band aid that only temporarily solves the problem by shifting costs onto taxpayers,” White told Inside Drug Pricing.
“Had Congress not raided Medicare to pay for other programs, it might have avoided the need to launch this last-minute demo now. Congress should ensure that any Medicare savings stays in the Medicare program and start lowering drug plan costs, not raising them,” White added.