By CHRIS MEGERIAN (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden needs to extend taxes to spice up funding for Medicare and increase this system’s means to barter decrease prices for pharmaceuticals, in keeping with advance particulars of his price range proposal being launched later this week.
The Democratic president outlined his plan in a visitor essay in The New York Times on Tuesday, writing that “Medicare is more than a government program. It’s the rock-solid guarantee that Americans have counted on to be there for them when they retire.”
Biden is scheduled to launch his price range proposal on Thursday in Philadelphia. Pushing the proposal by way of Congress will probably be troublesome, with Republicans answerable for the House and Democrats with solely a slim majority within the Senate.
The Medicare tax price would rise from 3.8% to five% on earnings exceeding $400,000 per yr, together with salaries and capital positive factors.
“This modest increase in Medicare contributions from those with the highest incomes will help keep the Medicare program strong for decades to come,” Biden writes within the Times.
The plan can also be supposed to shut what the White House describes as loopholes that permit some earnings to keep away from Medicare taxes.
Besides the taxes, Biden needs to increase Medicare’s means to barter drug prices, which started with the Inflation Reduction Act. He signed the sweeping laws final yr.
The adjustments would assist shore up a key belief fund that pays for Medicare, which supplies well being take care of older adults. According to the White House, the adjustments would maintain the fund solvent till the 2050s, about 25 years longer than at the moment anticipated.
More adjustments can be made to Medicare advantages. Biden needs to restrict price sharing for some generic medication to solely $2. The concept would decrease out-of-pocket prices for treating hypertension, excessive ldl cholesterol and different illnesses.
In addition, the price range would finish price sharing for as much as three psychological well being or behavioral well being visits per yr.
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Follow the AP’s protection of Medicare at https://apnews.com/hub/medicare.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”