Democrats take on Rick Scott for voting against reducing Medicare drug prices

Two Tampa Bay-area Democratic lawmakers joined a pair of pharmacists on Monday to blast GOP U.S. Sen. Rick Scott for his opposition to legislation pushed by the Biden administration that provides financial relief for millions of Floridians on Medicare, such as lowering drug costs and expanding health benefits.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and state Rep. Susan Valdés spoke to reporters about those provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law almost exactly two years ago by President Joe Biden. The law also included hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits for clean energy production and funding for the IRS.

In 2022, Scott joined every other Republican U.S. senator in opposing the IRA, which now allows some Medicare recipients to have their annual out-of-pocket drug costs capped at around $3,500. Starting in January, those costs for patients on Medicare Part D will be reduced to $2,000.

The law also lowers the cost of a one-month supply of insulin to $35, allows Medicare to negotiate with participating drug companies to get lower drug prices for certain drugs, and requires rebates to Medicare when prescription drug companies raise their prices faster than inflation.

“These changes will do so much good for our community,” said Dr. Vondalyn Wright, a pharmacist and the owner of Health Matters Community Pharmacy in East Tampa.

“That’s why it hurts me to see how Sen. Rick Scott voted against lowering the costs of prescription drugs for seniors. Let that sink in. Rick Scott represents the state with the highest percentage of seniors in the country and he voted against lowering the cost of prescription drugs. It’s wrong.”

There are more than 5 million Floridians on Medicare, according to the Florida Department of Health.

At the time of the vote, and immediately afterward, Scott said that the bill pushed by the Democrats had cut Medicare. “All Democrats in the Senate and House voted to cut $280 billion out of Medicare just two months ago,” Scott told CNN in October 2022.

But the centrist Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called that comment inaccurate.

“In reality, the bill’s prescription drug savings would save the federal government nearly $300 billion through 2031 without cutting benefits,” the committee wrote in a report. “Lowering Medicare costs is not the same as reducing benefits. Quite the opposite — many measures to reduce costs for the government would reduce costs for individuals as well.”

Negotiating prices

A key part of the IRA gives Medicare the ability to negotiate lower drug prices to make those medicines more affordable for the federal government, plus seniors and disabled people enrolled in the program. A year ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the first 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D for negotiations. Among those are Eliquis, Jardiance, and Januvia.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can publish any negotiated prices for those drugs by next month, although the new prices will not take effect for Medicare patients until Jan. 1, 2026.

“These are drugs that millions of our neighbors rely on every single day,” said Castor. “Also, if you have diabetes and you rely on Medicare for your health care, you now have money back in your pocket because we instituted a $35 per month price cap on insulin. Just in my congressional district alone, 74,000 of our neighbors — individuals with diabetes — are enjoying those savings. Including 22,000 of our neighbors who rely on daily shots of insulin.”

Several U.S. drug makers, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Boehringer Ingelheim have gone to federal court to stop the implementation of Medicare’s prescription drug negotiations, without much success, according to Stat News.

Popular support

The issue appears to have some potency with voters. At least eight in 10 adults support each of the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions related to Medicare prescription drug prices, including majorities in both major political parties, according to KFF, a health care policy organization.

The Rick Scott Senate Campaign responded shortly after this story was initially published.

“Gas and grocery prices are through the roof right now and Democrats reminding us that they had four years to fix it and did absolutely nothing is incredibly on brand,” said spokesperson Will Hampson. “We welcome any Florida Democrats who want to remind voters that the Inflation Reduction Act failed to curb the devastating inflation of the Biden/Harris regime while lighting on fire trillions of your taxpayer dollars in the process.”

Monday’s press conference came a few weeks after another set of Florida Democrats held a remote media availability on the 59th anniversary of the creation of Medicare. They raised the argument that Scott intended to “sunset” all federal programs to renew every five years, including Medicare, although Scott reversed that stance more than a year ago.

Scott is running for a second six-year term to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate. He is expected to easily defeat two challengers he’s facing in next week’s primary election. Four Democrats are running in their own U.S. Senate primary election.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix