AARP Fights for America's Seniors
Jack Kalavritinos and Gerard Scimeca’s piece “AARP is Cheering on the Socialist Left’s Takeover of Our Health System,” recycles the same tired argument of big drug companies and its other front groups. The source of the piece is painfully obvious. Big drug companies fund both Consumer Action for a Strong Economy and Coalition Against Socialized Medicine to deceptively push its agenda.
Unlike these other groups, AARP is an independent and nonpartisan advocate on behalf of our nearly 38 million members. We engage with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to address the concerns of America’s seniors: most recently, high prescription drug prices.
As the article reminds readers, AARP members are everyday Americans – Americans who struggle to afford the highest prescription drugs in the world, skip doses to make their medications last longer, and worry about the effects of inflation as drug manufacturers continue to hike their prices. In response, our members sent millions of emails and petitions to Congress urging action on this overwhelmingly bipartisan issue among voters.
We have a long history of advocating for innovations within the health care system to deliver affordable care. In fact, AARP’s founder Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus testified before Congress in 1961 on the need to make prescription drugs affordable. We have pursued that mission ever since.
Thankfully, the new legislation brings needed short-term and long-term relief to America’s seniors. After all, medicines don’t work if you can’t afford them.
Starting this year, the cost of insulin is capped at $35 per month for Medicare enrollees. Similarly, recommended vaccines, including the shingles vaccine, become available for free for people in Medicare. The legislation also penalizes drug companies for raising their prices faster than the rate of inflation. This is a critical component for seniors that are feeling the effects of inflation on their fixed incomes.
In addition to capping annual out-of-pocket costs for people in Medicare prescription drug plans, the new law gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. These negotiations will include high-cost, brand-name medications without competition. In the coming years, these negotiated prices will save Medicare and the American taxpayer tens of billions of dollars.
Although big drug companies fought tooth and nail to maintain the status quo, AARP and its members stood up to them and won. But these drug companies are not giving up easily. They are continuing to find new ways to exploit Americans and line their wallets.
AARP will continue to stand up for what is right, and advocate until all Americans 50-plus can afford their needed prescription drugs.
John Hishta is AARP's senior vice president of campaigns.
