With President Biden campaigning on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which cuts funds from Medicare and imposes price controls on prescription drugs, new survey results show strong support for policies protecting seniors from government rationing in healthcare and improving competition to lower prescription drug prices.
WHY IT MATTERS
With 2-in-3 voters saying the Inflation Reduction Act did not help them, the findings show that advocates of free markets in healthcare have solutions to lower drug prices that compare favorably with government-centric proposals.
HOW TO USE THIS INFORMATION
Opponents of government-imposed price controls and rationing in Medicare can confidently offer alternative solutions for prescription drug access that have strong, bipartisan support.
Click on the image below to read the full report…or read the summary below.
Protecting Seniors, Improving Competition, and Rebuking Biden
- 85% of Americans support requiring Medicare to cover all drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including 55% who “strongly support” the proposal.
- 84% of Americans support requiring pharmacies to transfer prescriptions to lower cost pharmacies if a patient requests, including 54% who strong support the proposal.
- 81% support closing legal loopholes that delay and discourage cheaper generics, including 52% who strongly support the proposal.
- These policies have more “strong support” from Americans than the Inflation Reduction Act policy of price controls in Medicare through so-called “negotiation.”
- 83% support requiring savings found in Medicare to be kept in Medicare, which is a rebuke to the cuts to Medicare redirected to green energy programs found in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Tepid Support for Foreign Reference Pricing
- Proposals to base the price of drugs in the U.S. based on what they pay in Europe and other industrialized countries with government-run healthcare systems and price controls draw tepid support. The policy is supported by just 52% of Americans, including 47% of Republicans, 50% of independents, and 58% of Democrats.
Support for Other Policies
- 83% support prioritizing the approval of lower cost generic drugs at the FDA.
- 82% support requiring all medicines over 13 years to be priced as generics.
- 78% support requiring drug middlemen to pass savings they negotiate with drug manufacturers directly to patients, instead of to insurance companies.