Tell your Members of Congress and President Biden: Support Medicare Expansion!
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
Short Phone Ask:
I strongly support the recent Medicare Expansion proposal from congressional Democrats. It has three key points:
Lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60.
Include dental, vision, and hearing care for all Medicare recipients.
Cover the costs by empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices as the VA does.
It's time to stop appeasing Republican obstructionists and enact the economic measures that America desperately needs – and overwhelmingly wants. The American Family Plan (AFP) legislation needs to include both Medicare expansion and making permanent the temporary health subsidies for low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Longer Email/Mail Ask:
I strongly support the recent Medicare Expansion proposal from more than 150 congressional Democrats (over 70% of the total). They propose that three key points be added to the American Family Plan (AFP) legislation:
Lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60.
Include dental, vision, and hearing care for all Medicare recipients.
Cover the costs by empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices as the VA does.
McConnell and McCarthy have both made clear their determination to sabotage and obstruct every Democratic effort to fulfill campaign promises no matter how necessary or popular they are among voters. The only legislation Republicans are willing to vote for are corporate subsidies and more tax-cuts for the rich and powerful. It's time to stop futile attempts to appease Republican obstructionists. It’s time to use our Democratic majorities to enact the economic measures that America desperately needs – and overwhelmingly wants. That needs to include Medicare drug price negotiation authority, Medicare expansion, making permanent the temporary health subsidies for low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Background
Biden's proposed American Family Plan (AFP) already includes making permanent the temporary expansion of health subsidies for low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
It's estimated that the cost of both the ACA subsidies and Medicare expansion can be entirely covered by giving Medicare the same authority to negotiate drug prices that the Veterans Administration already has.
According to an official GAO report: “The VA paid an average of 54% less per unit than Medicare, even after taking into account rebates and discounts.” In other words, the VA paid an average of 50 cents apiece for 400 drugs that cost Medicare an average of $1.08.
Expanding Medicare was one of President Biden’s campaign promises and he raised it in his recent address to congress. He then referred to it again in his FY 2022 Budget proposal. Expanding Medicare has bipartisan support among voters of both parties. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 79% of Americans say drug prices are too high.
Big-Pharma lobbyists claim that allowing Medicare to negotiate prices “threatens the future development of new treatments and patient access to life-saving medicines.” But in a recent Congressional hearing, Rep. Katie Porter exposed the falsehood of that claim by revealing that the money a major pharmaceutical firm spent on marketing, dividends, and stock buybacks, dwarfed its R&D spending.
References
Broad Coalition of Democrats Presses Biden to Expand Medicare, NY Times 5/27/21
70 percent of House Democrats pressure Biden to expand Medicare in American Families Plan, The Hill, 5/27/21
Prescription Drugs: Department of Veterans Affairs Paid About Half as Much as Medicare, GAO report, 1/14/21
President’s Budget Proposal: (see page 24)
Democrats promised to lower drug prices, but plans are sputtering Los Angeles Times, 5/26/2021
Rep. Katie Porter Used Her Whiteboard to Destroy a Big Pharma Exec