Patience is a virtue, patience brings good luck. It is seldom found in humans, and never in a duck Looney Tunes
A week is a lifetime in politics. There’s a good reason they say that. That’s because politics is so transitory, with the crises, agenda fights, and full blown kerfuffles coming so fast and furious that they’re literally impossible to all keep up with.
But sometimes patience is required, because if instant gratification is your bag, then you’re in the wrong line of work in politics. Because progress in politics is often measured with a geologic clock. The secret is to be awake, aware, and ready when the alarm finally goes off.
Just a few quick examples. When the Democratic controlled congress passed The Affordable Care Act, they knew that they faced an uphill popularity battle. That’s mostly because the GOP beat the Democrats in negatively branding the bill, and most of the most popular items in the bill wouldn’t go into effect until the third year. Which meant that the GOP’s only real chance to repeal the law was before the third year, when the really popular goodies kicked in.
When Biden passed his master infrastructure law, he was similarly hamstrung in immediately creating high praise for the bill, simply because the normal bid and approval process for the projects would take at least a year. The GOP spent a year trashing the new law, and when the money tarted rolling in, and projects clogged up traffic, they tried to take credit for this sudden boon in their states.
One more. A critical part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was to lower the cost of insulin across the board to a flat $35 a month. Turncoat Democratic Senator Joe Manchin thought he was really sticking it to Biden when he forced a change that only Medicare recipients qualified for the $35 monthly rate. The stupid sh*t. Biden bided his time until the $35 a month went into effect for Medicare patients, and then turned righteous fire and brimstone on the Big Pharma companies, shaming them all into voluntarily dropping the rate to $35 a month for everybody. And as a result, Biden garnered all of the glory.
And now he’s at it again, and this one is a master stroke, it shows Biden is playing 3-level chess while everybody else is playing Parcheesi.
One of the major features of Biden’s IRA was the portion that allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients directly with the Big Pharma companies. Up until now, Medicare went hat-in-hand to the Big Pharma companies saying I’ve got 65 million members here, what kind of a rate can you give me for these drugs? And whatever price the drug companies gave them was what they were stuck with.
Obviously Biden and his surrogates tried to trumpet this monster win to the heavens. But unless you’re a Hollywood studio coming out with a blockbuster movie starring Bruce Willis, it’s kind of hard to hype something that hasn’t happened yet. Biden tried to keep it front and center, and bided his time.
Which is now. Last week the Medicare negotiators fired the first salvos in the negotiations. As I understand it, Medicare is targeting the 10 most expensive prescription drugs in the US with the largest prescription rates. This includes some of the most widely advertised drugs in the country, including Xarelto, Otezla, and Ozempic. And Medicare is making a specific point that Medicare recipients shouldn’t be paying for Big Pharma’s advertising budgets on these drugs. OUCH!
As I understand it, here’s how it goes. Medicare just sent their opening bids on the price they’ll pay for these drugs to the pharma companies. Over the next six months, the two sides will barter like Egyptian rug merchants and American tourists. The final price will be agreed on by August 1st, and the price changes will go into effect for Medicare recipients on September 1st.
Here are the two most important things you need to take away from everything I’ve said above. 65 million Medicare recipients and September 1st. Here’s why that’s all you need to know.
The 2024 general election is on November 5th. And starting on September 1st, Biden and every other Democrat running for elective office is going to be able to stand behind a microphone, and remind 65 million US seniors who they can thank for now paying a fraction of what they’ve been paying for their most important medications since Christ was a carpenter.
To the victors go the spoils. Say what you like, but there’s now way you can tell me that when the Democrats negotiated the terms of the Medicare drug negotiations portion of the bill, they negotiated the effective dates specifically with the 2024 election in mind, trusting that the MAGA imbeciles would be accommodatingly clueless. And they were right.
And if I’m reading it correctly, there’s another compelling argument that Biden and the Democrats can make, not only to Medicare recipients, but everybody else as well.
My understanding is that the Medicare price that the drug companies handed out became the benchmark ceiling price for the drug. Which means that when health insurance companies went to the drug companies to negotiate prices for their members, it was the Medicare rate that was the high point, and they negotiated down from there. Which is why people not covered by Medicare but by private health insurance were paying lower prices for the same drugs. Because there weren’t 65 million of them. Which is the hook for all of those Medicare Plus Supplement plans you keep seeing pop up in October for the Medicare open enrollment period.
Here’s the short of it. All of those imbeciles out there who keep trashing Biden for his mental abilities should just shut up, sit back, and look at the masterful way he has negotiated his way through almost every major piece of legislation he’s signed. He had the smarts to hit the road and tout the accomplishment, but had the patience to wait until the full effect was being felt before hitting the road again to take a victory lap. And September and October is going to be a two month Medicare prescription drug victory lap.
I thank you for the privilege of your time.
Instead of calling him Dark Brandon…maybe Bright Brandon is a better moniker. Either way…as Ed used to say to Johnny Carson…you are correct sir!
I know Biden brought down the price of insulin. Problem is, the real.cost is in the test strips you have to.use two or more times,a,day. That is a huge cost.
FYI, I’m a caregiver for a disabled person on Medicare. Weight loss drugs are EXCLUDED from Medicare part D, no coverage whatsoever for seniors or disabled people on Medicare. Was handling it this week!
With the cost of smart watches dropping, test strips can go away one day soon. Even smart phones have apps to measure glucose and other health statistics. Luckily forme, no living in another country, I pay only a fraction for test strips, but I look forward to the day my finger can finally get a rest.
Hey Murph: “When the Democratic controlled congress passed The Affordable Care Act, they knew that they faced an uphill popularity battle. That’s mostly because the GOP beat the Democrats in negatively branding the bill”
Here, you point out also an example of what has been the problem for far too long. Republicans and their now monopolisic corporate propaganda machine(thank you, Saint Ronnie) have always been better at defining the Democrats. I suppose not only the above mentioned reasons, but also the fact that the party makeup is virtually all of the fascistic mentality. What galls me most is like the representative of my legal home district in NC, Greg Murphy, MD, who is willing to violate his professional oath to deny those most in need of potentially excellent health care and affordable medications and services. I never cease to be amazed at the number of supposedly educated people who so easily compromise their principles for a spot on the dark side. Thank you for pointing out so many of these traps to your readers and followers. Sadly, in your case, as well as that of the rest of your great writers, you continue preaching mostly to the converted. But keep it up, Maybed you’ll convert a few more each day!