Trump Reveals Plan to Help Seniors with Prescription Drugs
Michael C.G. Jamon
On Thursday, Trump revealed what is called the “America First Health Plan” while he was at a campaign stop in Charlotte, NC.
Within the program, Americans who are on Medicare will receive $200 discount cards to be used for prescription drugs. The cards will be mailed within weeks.
“Nobody’s seen this before. These cards are incredible,” Trump said.
“The cards will be mailed out in the coming weeks. I will take care of our wonderful senior citizens,” he continued.
Trump also said that Biden “won’t be doing this” in his speech Thursday.
The 33 million Americans who are on Medicare – many of whom could use prescription drug cost relief – are expected to receive the cards.
According to a 2010 Kaiser Foundation study, Medicare enrollees spent on average $300 per year on prescription drugs, and prices have significantly increased since then.
Additionally, they spend over $4,000 per year on healthcare services and health insurance premiums per year.
For these seniors, the relief comes at a welcome time.
The entire program will cost $6.6 billion dollars and a senior Trump administration official told the New York Times how the program will get authorization:
A senior administration official said the discount cards would be authorized under a waiver program that allowed Medicare to test certain new policy ideas. The money would come from savings gleaned from the president’s directive this month that required Medicare to pay no more for prescription drugs than in other developed nations, the official said.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows insisted on CNN that the pharmaceutical companies would pay for the cards (NYT):
Mr. Meadows suggested — without offering an explanation — that pharmaceutical manufacturers would still pay for the cards, which he said older Americans would begin receiving in October.
“It’s the first time that money came from Big Pharma, back from their pockets, in the pockets of American seniors,” Mr. Meadows said. “If they have any question about if he is for real, wait until that card is received in the mail.”
Here is a video of Trump touting the new plan from Thursday’s campaign stop:
SEE VIDEO