According to an analysis by the Health Market Policy Network, led by Joe Grogan, a former domestic policy adviser under the Trump administration, the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of health policy under the Inflation Control Act has resulted in the diversion of $266 billion from Medicare to green energy, a 21.5% increase in Part D premiums and a sharp reduction in available plans.
The analysis sent to health care groups on Monday said the administration’s intervention, including $10 billion in subsidies to insurers, was a stopgap measure meant to hide deeper problems created by the changes.
The analysis, released just one day before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump, criticized the administration’s handling of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for enabling widespread fraud and costing them billions of dollars, and for making it harder for seniors to access their benefits through cuts and increased regulation.
Healthcare is ‘overwhelmingly complicated’ for seniors, experts say, and ‘increasingly difficult’
Vice President Kamala Harris embraces President Biden during a campaign event at IBEW Local 5 in Pittsburgh on September 2, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“With the presidential debates looming and Election Day fast approaching, health care policy will be hotly debated,” Grogan told Fox News Digital. “Much of the legacy media has enthusiastically promoted the Biden administration’s progressive narrative that only more government control and bigger deficits will make America healthier, so a more dispassionate assessment of the Biden-Harris record is essential for the American public to understand the issues.”
“Our brief analysis reveals a series of health policy failures: fatally flawed laws, counterproductive regulations, and an administration focused on control rather than improving health outcomes,” he added.
The analysis also said the Biden-Harris administration has “suppressed medical opinions that contradict its preferred views and censored dissenting scientists.”
The report said that increasing subsidies and offering free plans to people above the poverty line encouraged some people to falsely report low incomes, resulting in up to 5 million people being fraudulently enrolled and costing taxpayers $15 billion to $20 billion in 2024.
“Inadequate oversight of ACA brokers led to reports this year of ACA plan switching that enrolled thousands of Americans into ACA-assisted plans without their knowledge or consent,” the report said.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans also cut payments to insurance companies, making it harder for these plans to provide additional benefits to seniors. The new restrictions and payment cuts could result in increased costs for beneficiaries and reduced benefits, such as dental and vision care, according to the report.
The analysis found that the administration has “prioritized extreme identity politics over medical expertise,” paying extra to doctors who have racially focused health plans in 2021 and requiring brain research groups to include diversity goals in their funding applications.
Biden-Harris Administration criticized for using taxpayer money to hide Medicare premium hikes before the election
The analysis said the Biden-Harris administration has “suppressed medical opinions that contradict its preferred views and censored dissenting scientists.” (iStock)
The administration also used taxpayer funds last month to hide upcoming increases in Medicare premiums, a move critics say is intended to protect the Biden-Harris administration from election fallout.
IRAs are meant to cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, but insurers are poised to dramatically raise monthly premiums, with the average bid for Part D plans expected to triple by 2025.
Americans are also dealing with rising prescription drug prices, which have risen nearly 40% over the past decade, well outpacing the rate of inflation.
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In response to possible voter backlash, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a three-year “demonstration project” in August to subsidize premiums in an effort to keep them artificially low. But while it looks like a relief at first glance, some critics argue that the subsidies will be significantly increased, rising from $30 per beneficiary per month in 2024 to $142.70 in 2025, which taxpayers will have to foot the bill, and they worry about the long-term impact on government spending and debt.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.
