The affordability crisis continues as Trump ends Medicare drug subsidies that helped alleviate costs for millions of seniors
The Trump administration announced last week that it is ending a key Medicare subsidy that makes prescription drugs affordable for seniors, in a move that administration officials themselves admit will “likely result in higher prescription costs and increase premiums for about half of recipients.”
In response to the cuts, Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey released the following statement:
“At a time when costs are already skyrocketing at the grocery stores and at the pump, Donald Trump and Republican leaders are slashing Medicare and making it harder for seniors to afford the life-saving prescription drugs they need. Every Republican running for office in Georgia needs to answer: Do they support Trump hiking seniors’ drug costs?”
Trump and Republican leaders have already wreaked havoc on Georgians’ health care with the passage of Trump’s harmful budget law, which Mike Collins voted for and Rick Jackson has bragged about personally profiting from. The bill has resulted in premiums doubling and hundreds of thousands of Georgians being forced to drop their health coverage altogether.
In Georgia specifically, the law will:
- Cut Medicaid funding in Georgia by $8 billion over ten years, threatening hundreds of thousands of Georgians covered by Medicaid and putting hospitals across Georgia at risk of closing or reducing services.
- Lead to over 78,000 Georgians dropping off Medicaid since last year, including over 62,000 Georgia children.
- Cause ACA premiums to skyrocket an estimated 196% for Georgians—and 550,000 Georgians have already dropped coverage—after refusing to extend ACA tax credits.
- Put four rural hospitals across the state at immediate risk of closure, threatening critical medical centers that are already facing financial instability while trying to provide care for their patients.
- Cause 729,000 families to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits—as over 460,000 already have—while Georgians struggle with the continued rising costs of groceries.
- Shrink the state’s economy by millions, put tens of thousands of jobs on the chopping block, and increase household energy costs by hundreds of dollars a year.
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