Medicare --- November 7, 2022

Updates

November 8, 2022: the travesty is that Medicare targets those who vote, the seniors. Low-hanging fruit: children in households where parents are under the age of 30, or perhaps, Medicare for all those under the age of eighteen.

November 8, 2022: 

Medicare drug deductible cap: look at the current deductible in 2023 (appalling at $505 -- an increase of 5% y/y, but then compare to where the US Congress and Ronald Reagan wanted to set the deductible (see below) -- $600 in 1991, and the amount would have been "adjusted" each year. Can you imagine what the deductible would have been in 2023 with this bill?

The 1988 Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, Investopedia: not only was this an incredibly bad bill, but it would have actually increased costs for medication for those on Medicare:

This bill was intended to greatly expand coverage, but at huge cost to Medicare enrollees.

From 1988: working plan --

Part D prescription medication cap lowered from ever-increasing annual requirements:

• 1988: Ronald Reagan -- nope, well sorta -- until it was repealed a year later 
• because it was a very, very bad bill across the entire spectrum
  
• 1992: George H. W. Bush -- nope
• 1996: Bill Clinton -- nope
• 2000: Bill Clinton -- nope
• 2004: George W. Bush -- nope
• 2008: George W. Bush -- nope
• 2012: his highness -- nope
• 2016: his highness -- nope
• 2020: Donald Trump -- nope
• 2024: Joe Biden -- got 'er done.

Same with insulin. Which, by the way, should be free. 

Original Post 

Under Trump and every previous GOP president, no attempt -- as far as I know -- was made to lower the cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for Medicare recipients. Right now, it's about $8,000 to $10,000 per person per year. Under Biden and a Democratic US Congress: