Arizona voters praise Harris over plummeting cost of lifesaving medication

A small group gathered outside Melrose Pharmacy in midtown Phoenix Friday to publicly thank the Biden-Harris administration for its successful efforts in lowering the cost of several lifesaving medications.

They also criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his promise to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a 2022 law that grants the government power to negotiate lower prices for 10 of Medicare’s most expensive—and commonly prescribed—drugs.

“I’m here to support Vice President Harris, because she has fought to reduce prescription drug costs in the past and will continue to do so in the future,” said Doug Hart, a retired union member from Tempe. “Donald Trump, on the other hand, has made it clear he will make it harder for folks with chronic conditions like mine. He’s spoken against the Affordable Health Care [Act] and IRA.”

Thanks to recent drug price negotiations, the US Department of Human and Health Services announced Thursday that recent negotiations will lower the cost of lifesaving medicine for cancer, diabetes, and blood clots saving Medicare recipients anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars every month.

“These negotiations will not only lower the prices of critically important medications for cancer, diabetes, heart failure, and more, but will also save billions of dollars,” said program administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “We made a promise to the American people, and today, we are thrilled to share that we have fulfilled that promise.”

Harris and Trump on healthcare costs

Trump has repeatedly promised to repeal the IRA, a move which, in addition to ending the new drug price negotiations, would remove the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for Medicare recipients.

In Arizona, the repeal would mean ending cost-saving measures for over 400,000 seniors, and delivering roughly $150 million in additional profits to pharmaceutical companies, according to an analysis by the US House Committee on the Budget. Nationally, The Center for American Progress estimates that those extra profits for private pharmaceutical companies would amount to nearly $8 billion—a bill footed by over 20 million seniors.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has long called for reining in prescription drug costs. During her 2019 presidential campaign, Harris outlined a plan to allow the Health and Human Services Department to set maximum drug costs comparable to other countries. Doing so would cut costs across the board: a 2022 study by the healthcare non-profit KFF found that US residents pay more than double what people in other countries pay for medicine.

“Two years ago, as vice president, I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote that gave Medicare the power to negotiate,” Harris said. “In the two years since, we’ve been using this new power to lower the price of life-saving medication.”

Harris supporters point to the future

Manny Hernandez, a US Army veteran who joined the crowd in Phoenix, said he’s relieved those on Medicare can now benefit from negotiated drug costs. when he qualifies for Medicare. Hernandez has health insurance through the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has been able to negotiate drug costs for years.

Hernandez said he hopes Harris will push farther, and empower the government to end price gouging and negotiate medication costs for everyone, not just those on public health insurance. He pointed to his family, many of whom were born with Type I diabetes. As they got older, some of his grandchildren were removed from the state’s public health insurance program for minors, and the cost of medication became a heavy burden for his family.

“I’m a diabetic, and I’m lucky I got VA. Without it, I’d really be hurting,” Hernandez told The Copper Courier. “So I’m out here helping the seniors and hopefully my children and my grandchildren in the future to lower the prices for them because we got a lot of diabetes in our family.”