Klobuchar voices support for making health care tax credits permanent and allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices

WATCH KLOBUCHAR FULL REMARKS HERE

WASHINGTON – On the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) highlighted ways to lower costs and strengthen health care access for American families, voicing her support for making the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits permanent and allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs. 

Klobuchar underscored how the increased ACA tax credits passed in the American Rescue Plan Act have helped lower health care costs and expand coverage, urging action to permanently extend these tax credits beyond their December 2022 expiration date. If the credits expire, 62 percent of Minnesotans enrolled in insurance coverage through MNSure will see their costs increase. 

“Millions more Minnesotans and Americans now have the peace of mind that comes with affordable quality health coverage. Eligible households in Minnesota have an annual average ACA [Affordable Care Act] tax credit of $3,600. That's $3,600 freed up for housing, gas, and groceries while maintaining access to health care,” said Klobuchar. “At a time when so many families are struggling to make ends meet, we just can't sit back and let those ACA tax credits expire. More Americans insured is good for patients, good for families, good for communities, and good for our country.”

Klobuchar emphasized that allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs is critical to reducing costs for families: “The biggest game changer would be to lift the ban, that the pharmaceutical companies got in place in law, that says Medicare representing tens of millions of seniors is not allowed to negotiate cheaper prices…It will be good for all Americans, because it will bring down the taxpayer expense and it will be good for individual consumers.”

Klobuchar has long been a leader in the fight to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices. In March, Klobuchar led a group of bicameral colleagues in calling out drug manufacturers for rapid and widespread price hikes on prescription drugs. 

The same month, Klobuchar joined 18 of her colleagues to introduce the Affordable Insulin Now Act, legislation that caps out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 per month.

In February, Klobuchar and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Cutting Medicare Prescription Drug Prices in Half Act, which would allow Medicare to pay the same prices for prescription drugs as the Veterans’ Administration (VA). The prices the VA pays for prescription drugs are roughly half the amount of prices paid by Medicare Part D for the same products.

Last March, Klobuchar and Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate the best price of prescription drugs for seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D. 

A transcript of Klobuchar’s remarks as delivered is given below. Video is available for TV download HERE and for online viewing HERE.  

Mr. President, I come to the floor today on behalf of nine million Americans who directly benefited from very important health insurance credits in the American Rescue Plan. Credits that are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn't act. And I don't believe enough attention has been focused on this issue. 

Last year, in March of 2021, we came to this very chamber and passed the American Rescue Plan which provided a crucial lifeline for so many families. We eliminated health insurance premiums for low-wage workers making less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level and expanded eligibility for health insurance tax credits to middle-class families and guaranteed that health coverage would not cost more than 8.5 percent of a person's income. 

The American Rescue Plan also increased the size of the tax credit for all eligible income brackets, putting more money in workers' pockets. As a result,  ACA health insurance premiums were brought down by an average of $50 per person per month. And people in both New Mexico and in Minnesota took great advantage of that. 

As a result, a record number of Americans, 14.5 million Americans, are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act health insurance plan. That's 2.5 million more people that signed up in a single year than ever before. 

In my home state, that translated to a record low uninsured rate of just 4 percent. That means 96 percent of Minnesotans have health insurance which is a great improvement over where it was. Millions more Minnesotans and Americans now have the peace of mind that comes with affordable quality health coverage. Eligible households in Minnesota have an annual average ACA tax credit of $3,600. That's $3,600 freed up for housing, gas, and groceries while maintaining access to health care. 

But unless Congress acts to make the enhanced family-friendly tax credits, currently set to expire at the end of 2022, permanent millions of Americans will have the rug pulled out from under them, like leasing a double-digit hike on their health insurance premiums. Karen Tumulty, columnist for The Washington Post called it a ‘ticking time bomb.’ 

If these tax credits are not made permanent, 70,000 Minnesotans or 61 percent of Minnesota families purchasing health insurance on their own could see a 35 percent  to 41 percent  increase in their health insurance premiums. And over 10,000 Minnesotans could lose their health insurance tax credit in 2023 unless Congress acts.

 In my state, Americans between the age of 55 and 64 would be most affected. And you think about this with cost issues and inflation and all the things people are already facing. Right now a 60-year-old Minnesota couple with a household income of $75,000 is saving $773 in monthly premiums. Taking away those tax credits would increase their annual health spending by at least $9,000. That's like taking away multiple paychecks, Mr. President.

It's no wonder that Americans overwhelmingly support making these tax credits permanent. Doctors and patients have called on us to protect these historic gains in affordability, coverage, and equity. Families can't afford to go back to paying upwards of 20 percent  or more of their monthly income toward health care premiums. This is important for patients and also important for providers. We know, hearing when we're back home that many hospitals are stretched thin right now and putting millions of health care for Americans in jeopardy is going to create a lot of volatility as patients are forced to disrupt their care and cancel procedures. 

At a time when so many families are struggling to make ends meet, we just can't sit back and let those ACA tax credits expire. More Americans insured is good for patients, good for families, good for communities, and good for our country. 

And I would note one other thing I would do when it comes to health care. And that is making sure that we allow Medicare to negotiate prices under Medicare Part D for pharmaceuticals. So while our communities are facing the potential of this, what The Washington Post called a “ticking time bomb,” we also must act when it comes to pharmaceuticals, because those prices are also going up. 

So I have just presented two really straightforward ways that we can help families with costs when it comes to healthcare. One is making sure that we keep in place the tax credits that protect middle-class families in this country. And the second is to make sure that we allow Medicare to negotiate better prices under Medicare Part D.

Because when you look at what's happening right now, we continue to see major drugs go up, doubling, go up 200 percent, 300 percent to the point where we are already paying double what they pay in Canada for a significant number of drugs. For Minnesota that is right across the border. And we must allow, in my mind, reimportation of less expensive drugs. But the biggest game changer would be to lift the ban, that the pharmaceutical companies got in place in law, that says Medicare representing tens of millions of seniors is not allowed to negotiate cheaper prices. And that's what the VA does and it's been really good for our veterans.

We should allow the same help for 46 million seniors. It will be good for all Americans, because it will bring down the taxpayer expense and part of the payment of drugs and it will be good for individual consumers. So let’s get these two things done.

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