Medicare change a win for patients, businesses

The Biden administration’s recent announcement that Medicare will negotiate the prices of 10 new prescription drugs — including blood thinners, and diabetes and cancer medications — is not merely a benefit for Medicare beneficiaries. It’s a crucial step toward relieving the financial strain that high health care costs place on American small businesses.

The Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, passed last summer, empowered Medicare to negotiate prices on some of the most expensive and most commonly used medicines covered under their plans. To grasp the implications of this change, consider this: An AARP analysis revealed the price increases for some of these medicines ranged from a staggering 20% to 739% over their lifetime. Clearly, intervention is overdue.

After spending more than a decade as a U.S. Air Force medical officer, the civilian world opened my eyes to the immense flaws in our health care system.

In the military, no matter what I ordered or what I prescribed, my patients would have access to it. In the civilian world, insurance almost entirely dictates whether someone can get a prescription and access to care. This means my patients have to make difficult decisions, such as purchasing only one medication when they need two or providing for themselves or their family. For business owners, the exorbitant costs of providing health care coverage will have real-life consequences for their employees and their enterprises. High health care costs stifle entrepreneurship, cut into bottom lines and force agonizing decisions, such as reducing health care benefits.

A survey by Small Business for America’s Future showed that nearly a third of the business owners surveyed are on Medicare and almost 1 in 4 have staff enrolled in the program. It’s no surprise that 50% of smallbusiness owners anticipate immediate financial relief from the new drug price negotiations.

Data from the Department of Health and Human Services highlights the transformative power of bringing down health care costs. If the IRA had been in effect in 2021, 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries would have saved a collective $234 million.

Savings on health care can translate to better wages, leading to higher employee retention rates. It can free up capital for innovation or expansion.

Despite all the good it is doing, the IRA is facing opposition in Congress — potentially undoing a number of wins in the fight to reduce health care costs. The ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices is just one part of the health care efforts initiated by the act. These have already yielded significant savings for Americans, such as capping out-ofpocket spending on insulin at $35 per month and making some vaccines free.

We cannot afford to lose these hard-fought victories.

The action by the Biden administration represents a significant step forward. Let’s seize this momentum and continue to build a health care system that serves all Americans and doesn’t hobble the entrepreneurial power of small business.

The IRA gives small businesses room to breathe, grow and thrive. We must protect these gains while continuing to push for comprehensive health care reforms, as every dollar saved is a step toward a more equitable and robust economic future for all.