U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

NEW @amprog analysis: Why is Biden's Inflation Reduction Act so popular?

✅ A family of 4 can save $23,000
✅ A single parent can save $6,700
✅ A young adult can save $7,700
✅ An elderly couple can save $17,000

Here's how:


The Inflation Reduction Act Will Save Families Thousands of Dollars

The act will lower household costs across health coverage, prescription drugs, home energy, and electric vehicles.



The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last month, makes historic investments to address climate change and contains the most sweeping health care reforms in a decade. The policies in the law are monumental on a national scale, reducing the deficit by $300 billion and standing up programs to spur the transition to clean energy and lower prescription drug prices. The act also provides near-immediate, tangible benefits for American families by lowering costs for home energy, new vehicles, health coverage, and prescription drugs.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides numerous opportunities for households to reduce their costs of living. This article provides four examples of how savings across the health care and climate-related provisions of the law could save a family thousands of dollars in a single year.

A family of four can save $23,000

First, imagine a family in Phoenix consisting of two parents and two kids. Their household income is $125,000, and they purchase health insurance on their own through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. They are homeowners, and in 2023 they will purchase a new electric vehicle (EV) and install rooftop solar with a backup battery.

The Inflation Reduction Act will reduce the cost of health coverage for this family. Like other families with incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), the Phoenix family was previously ineligible for the ACA’s financial help toward health insurance marketplace premiums. The American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in March 2021, increased the generosity of ACA premium tax credits and expanded eligibility above 400 percent of the FPL for 2021 and 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act extends those expanded subsidies through 2025. For the Phoenix family in 2022, the enhanced subsidies reduce the net cost of the marketplace benchmark silver plan premium by $2,288 annually—savings of 18 percent on a premium that would have otherwise been $12,913.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Phoenix family is eligible to receive $7,500 at the point of sale off the cost of their new EV, provided they choose a model that meets the requirements for being made in North America. Once they have switched from a gasoline-powered car to an EV, the family will save up to $2,600 annually on their fuel costs. By installing rooftop solar and a backup battery to store the energy generated from the solar panels, the family will save 30 percent on project and installation costs, an average savings of $10,500. Together, these shifts toward cleaner energy could save the family $20,600.

In total, through the ACA premium tax credits and by taking advantage of the clean energy credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, the family can expect to save roughly $23,000 in 2023.

A single parent can save $6,700

In Atlanta, a 55-year-old single parent with an 18-year-old child could save a total of about $6,700 across health care and energy costs because of the Inflation Reduction Act. With an income of $75,000, the enhanced marketplace subsidies saved them an additional $5,592 toward health care coverage this year.

The appliances—water heater, stove, dryer, and more—in the family’s rented apartment can be upgraded to energy-efficient appliances that will reduce energy bills and avoid indoor air pollution. Thanks to rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act, their landlord can have the full cost of the upgrade covered up to $14,000 given the income levels of the renting family. Across all households, the Inflation Reduction Act was projected to cut average annual energy costs by up to $1,146 according to the Rhodium Group. The forward-looking households who choose to switch to lower-cost electricity and higher-efficiency appliances such as heat pumps will save even more than the average.

A young adult can save $7,700

Single individuals can also expect to see their costs go down as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act. A young adult in Milwaukee with an annual income of $40,000 can save roughly $7,700. They can save an additional $1,114 on their marketplace premium this year due to the enhanced financial help that the new law has extended.

This young adult is eligible to receive $4,000 at the point of sale for purchasing a used electric vehicle, a brand-new tax credit created by the Inflation Reduction Act to increase the accessibility and affordability of EVs. By making the switch from a gas-powered vehicle to an EV, they will save up to $2,600 in annual fuel costs, according to Consumer Reports.

An elderly couple can save $17,000

For seniors, the Inflation Reduction Act offers relief from high prescription drug costs. For example, take an elderly, middle-class couple living in Pittsburgh who—like 1.4 million other Medicare beneficiaries nationwide, including 73,000 Pennsylvanians—spend more than $2,000 out of pocket for prescription drugs in a given year. In addition, one member of the couple is diabetic and insulin-dependent.

The Inflation Reduction Act makes significant changes to prescription drug pricing by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices and preventing drug companies from hiking prices in excess of inflation. The law’s drug price reforms are projected to generate $288 billion in federal savings over the next decade, and Medicare seniors will experience improved affordability because the act creates a new $2,000 maximum on annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and caps insulin cost sharing at $35 per month.

Assuming the Pennsylvania couple’s out-of-pocket costs are equal to the average among beneficiaries whose drug costs exceed these new limits, they could each save $1,215 when the cap takes effect in 2025—$2,430 total—because of the annual out-of-pocket maximum, and they would save an additional $575 on insulin every year beginning in 2023.

This couple is eligible to receive up to $14,000 to cover the full cost of energy efficiency upgrades to their home appliances, such as a heat pump water heater, a heat pump for space heating or cooling, or an electric stove. The upgrades will come at no cost to the couple—and will help them save on their energy bills every year. Switching to energy-efficient appliances will also benefit the couple’s health by significantly reducing indoor air pollution from fossil fuel-based appliances.

In total for this scenario, the couple could save $17,000 on prescription drugs, new appliances, and energy bills in a single year.

Conclusion

The four households described in these scenarios will save thousands of dollars on basic purchases under the Inflation Reduction Act, and yet none will see their taxes rise. Even families who do not make the switch to electricity will still benefit from the law’s investments, which will reduce electricity rates, natural gas prices, and gasoline prices. Moreover, the new law’s wide-ranging benefits and deficit reduction are funded by ensuring that the wealthy pay what they owe and by cracking down on tax avoidance by large corporations, meaning that no family making less than $400,000 per year will experience a tax increase.

The Inflation Reduction Act delivers better affordability on life-saving medications, health insurance premiums, and energy bills. It will produce large savings for families who upgrade to cleaner energy, electric vehicles, and more efficient homes, which in turn will generate savings for years to come.

Methodology

The Affordable Care Act marketplace savings described in this column represent the reduction in the net premium for benchmark silver plan coverage attributable to premium tax credit enhancement introduced in the American Rescue Plan. The authors used the Kaiser Family Foundation’s calculator tools to compute each household’s net premium with and without the enhanced subsidies, then reported the difference. Amounts are based on premiums for plan year 2022, the most recent year with available data. Because marketplace premiums vary with age, family composition, family income, and location, additional examples of savings for selected cities are shown below in Table 1 in the link below.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-inflation-reduction-act-will-save-families-thousands-of-dollars/

[Rick Plant]

Biden makes a passionate plea: 'Beating cancer is something we can do together'


President Joe Biden speaks on the cancer moonshot initiative at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(CNN) - President Joe Biden sought to deliver a unifying speech in Boston on Monday focused on his "Moonshot" initiative to reduce cancer deaths in the United States -- a stop that's part of a ramped up travel schedule highlighting his administration's accomplishments ahead of the midterm elections.

Biden told an audience at Boston's John F. Kennedy Library and Museum that his goal is to cut cancer death rates by at least 50% in the next 25 years. The President also said he wants to "create a more supportive experience for patients and families."

The President -- who lost his son to brain cancer -- spoke in personal, passionate terms about his goal, which he called "bold, ambitious" and "completely doable."

"Cancer does not discriminate red and blue. It doesn't care if you're Republican or Democrat. Beating cancer is something we can do together," the President said discussing the administration's efforts to cut the number of deaths from cancer in the United States in half over the next 25 years.

Biden's speech came on the 60th anniversary of Kennedy's original "Moonshot" speech, in which he unveiled his goal of landing a man on the Moon.

"When he set that goal, he established a national purpose that could rally the American people in a common cause and he succeeded," Biden said of Kennedy. "Now, in our time, on the 60th anniversary of his clarion call, we face another inflection point. And together, we can choose to move forward with unity, hope and optimism. And I believe we can usher in the same unwillingness to postpone -- the same national purpose that will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills to end cancer as we know it and even cure cancers once and for all."

To "break the logjams" in Congress, Biden said he would use his authorities as President to increase funding for cancer research.

The President also announced that Dr. Renee Wegrzyn will become the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which is a new agency that aims to "drive biomedical innovation that supports the health of all Americans." He is also expected to sign an executive order that will launch a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the White House said.

We're finally going to make infrastructure begin to work'

The midterm elections are less than 60 days away, and Biden's travel to Boston is his latest effort aimed at capitalizing on the political momentum spurred by recent legislative achievements and dropping gas prices.

Earlier Monday, the President highlighted projects made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure law at Boston Logan International Airport's Terminal E. New spending from the infrastructure law, he said, will create more than 5,000 jobs and expand capacity and increase accessibility at the airport.

Biden, at the airport, stressed the importance of competing with other countries like China in addition to rebuilding the nation's infrastructure.

"We risk losing our edge as nation to China, and the rest of the world is catching up. That stops now, with investments like we're celebrating here today," the President said.

Biden said: "Folks, America invented modern aviation. But we've allowed our airports to lag behind our competitors. Today, not a single solitary American airport, not one, ranked in the top 25 in the world. The United States of America. Not one airport ranks in the top 25 in the world. What in the hell's the matter with us? It means commerce, it means income, it means security."

The investments in the airport include $50 million to modernize Terminal E and $12 million to improve roadways. The President said in addition to being frustrating and inconvenient for passengers, traffic jams and delays on airport runways cause air pollution that harms the environment and directly affects neighboring communities.

Biden told reporters Monday ahead of his trip to Boston: "We're finally going to make infrastructure begin to work. We're making a major investment as you know, up in a great city with an airport that is really behind the times, as most are. And we're going to be spending a lot of money and we're going to get it done quickly, and we're going to go all through America making our airports the best in the world."

'People are beginning to focus on what's going on'

On Monday evening, the President also participated in a reception for the Democratic National Committee hosted at the home of Jonathan Lavine, the co-managing partner of Bain Capital.

In remarks at the event, according to reporters in the room, the President ticked off what he sees as his administrative accomplishments -- including major legislative wins, lower gas prices and a reduction in inflation. He also sought to highlight how the nation is at an "inflection point" in history.

"The fact is that extreme Republicans are going to take us backward," Biden said, adding that "there's a lot at stake and we have to choose a different path."

Biden warned the group, "If we lose the House and lose the Senate, it's going to be a really difficult two years. I'll be spending more time with the veto pen."

The President pointed to a poll showing that his approval rating had improved, but added, "I don't know how that holds."

"But I know ... people are beginning to focus on what's going on," he continued. "We have to stay in the game. We have to stay in a big way. ... There's a lot at stake. ... I don't want to start from scratch again."

The event hosted approximately 40 attendees and was expected to raise $2 million for the DNC and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, according to a DNC official.

Biden's schedule for the rest of the week, as outlined by the White House, includes a celebration at the White House for the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act -- a $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill -- as well as a trip to the key battleground state of Michigan.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/12/politics/biden-boston-trip/index.html

[Rick Plant]

Senate Republicans to introduce nationwide abortion ban

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will lead Senate Republicans in a push to pass a nationwide ban on abortion in a press conference Tuesday, less than two months before the November midterms, according to multiple reports.

Despite wording in an apparent press release calling it a "late-term" abortion ban, The Washington Post's Caroline Kitchener says it is expected to call for a ban on all abortions at or after 15 weeks.

"Tomorrow, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, and pro-life women leaders will join Senator Lindsey Graham(R-SC) at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol for the introduction of the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act," the press release from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America reads.

The move to impose a nationwide abortion ban barely into the second trimester comes less than three months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year old landmark decision that said there is a constitutional right to abortion. Justices and Republicans insisted it was a states' rights issue, but with this push to ban abortion before some women even know they're pregnant it's clear the states' rights claim was a smokescreen.

Politico's Alice Miranda Ollstein also reported on the expected announcement by Sen. Graham.

The Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs case, rescinding the civil right to abortion, and the Democrats' promise to make the right to abortion a federal law, along with President Biden's historic legislative successes, have moved projected control of the Senate back to the Democrats.

The South Carolina Post and Courier's Caitlin Byrd adds, "At a DNC fundraiser earlier tonight in Boston, Biden said: 'I want to codify Roe v Wade.'"

Read More Here: https://twitter.com/AliceOllstein/status/1569494296998383618

[Rick Plant]

Tim Ryan @TimRyan

Got a real *kick* out of our newest Team Ryan member!



https://twitter.com/TimRyan/status/1569485626642436096

[Rick Plant]

Echelon Insights has released a new batch of polls today, but a couple of these seem way too lopsided to be accurate. I'm going to have to wait and see more new polling to see where these are at. Remember, it's the polling averages that determine polling accuracy, not one specific poll.

Democrats

Pennsylvania Senate: Fetterman +21
Pennsylvania Governor: Shapiro +19

Ohio Senate: Ryan +6

Kansas Governor: Laura Kelly +12
Kansas Senate: Moran +19

Georgia Senate: Warnock +10
Georgia Governor: Abrams +1

Arizona Senate: Mark Kelly +15
Arizona Governor: Hobbs +10

Republicans

Ohio Governor: DeWine +19

Florida Senate: Rubio +9
Florida Governor: DeSantis +10

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

The Inflation Reduction Act is what it looks like when the government works for the people.
 
And when we tell powerful special interests: No, you're not going to get your way.
 
Not this time.
Not this year.
Not now.

The Inflation Reduction Act delivers on promises that have been made to Americans for decades.
 
Congressional Republicans chose not to join us, so it fell to the rest of us to meet this moment and deliver for families.
 
And that's exactly what we did.

The progress that comes with the Inflation Reduction Act was declared a failure before it was a success.
 
But we didn’t give up. We had a vision, a plan, and we stuck to it.
 
And the result is we’re getting the job done for the American people.

Tune in as I deliver remarks celebrating the Inflation Reduction Act and how it demonstrates government working for the American people.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1OdKrzPANvXKX

[Rick Plant]

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott wants to gut Social Security and Medicare with his bogus 11 point tax scam. He already perpetrated the largest Medicare fraud in history. He left the company with a $5 million severance, $300 million in stock, and a $950,000/yr consulting contract for 5 years.


Gov. Rick Scott took responsibility? No, he took $300 million

Oct 02, 2018



When the federal investigation of Rick Scott’s former hospital company became public in 1997, the board of Columbia/HCA forced him out. Scott left with $300 million in stock, a $5.1 million severance and a $950,000-per-year consulting contract for five years.

What does Scott call that? Taking responsibility.

The governor’s new Senate campaign ad again seeks to rewrite the history of Columbia/HCA, which Scott founded in 1987 and led as CEO. Indeed, the ad is titled “responsibility” and compares Scott’s actions to those of “strong leaders.”

In its settlement with the government, the company admitted to 14 felonies related to fraudulent billing and practices. Most happened under Scott’s leadership.

Columbia/HCA gave kickbacks to doctors so they would refer patients. Columbia/HCA made patients look sicker than they were, so Medicare would pay more. Columbia/HCA kept two sets of books.

The settlement required Columbia/HCA to pay $1.7 billion in fines, then the largest health care fraud case in the country. Scott departed a year after Time magazine named him one of America’s 25 most influential people for “transforming how American hospitals do business” through a company that “consolidates operations and imposes cost controls.”

Apparently, however, Scott’s business model depended on cheating. Despite that record, Scott narrowly won two terms as governor. With Scott in a tight race against Bill Nelson, the issue has arisen again. The new ad tries to make the governor the responsible guy on Medicare, not Nelson.

The ad continues Scott’s effort to portray Nelson – who is 76 – as old and dotty. Nelson, the ad said, is “confused” in his criticism of Scott and Columbia/HCA.

The company, the ad says, “paid every penny.” Well, sure. The settlement required payment, which came long after Scott was gone. The ad says Scott “took responsibility” without specifying how he did so.

That’s because Scott never did. He blamed the investigation on the Clinton administration, which supposedly sought revenge after Scott opposed health care reform. He claimed that Columbia/HCA was no worse than other companies. He noted that the government didn’t charge him with a crime.

And, of course, Scott claimed not to have known anything. He was a genius who deserved his megabucks severance, but he had no idea about company operations.

During his first campaign, Scott wrote: “I learned very hard lessons from what happened and those lessons have helped me become a better businessman and leader.”

Or not.

After moving to Florida, Scott started Solantic, a chain of walk-in clinics that also faced lawsuits. Just before Scott announced for governor, Solantic settled one of those lawsuits. The confidentiality agreement kept secret a deposition by Scott that he has refused to release. In a deposition related to Columbia/HCA, Scott took so much responsibility that he invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times.

Seeking to shift attention from Scott’s business record, the new ad accuses Nelson of cutting $716 billion from Medicare and using it for “more government spending.” The charge is as phony as the idea that Scott owned up to the fraud at his company.

The Affordable Care Act sought to cut wasteful Medicare spending. One target was Medicare Advantage plans, which got a boost in 2003 from the Republicans’ Medicare drug plan.

Ample evidence showed that Medicare Advantage plans cost more than traditional Medicare and weren’t as efficient. So the Affordable Care Act, which Nelson supported, shifted that $716 billion – now closer to $800 billion – away from private insurers.

Though the Scott ad accuses doddering ol’ Bill of being “too weak” to “stand up” for Florida’s seniors, the shift bolstered Medicare. Republicans have used similar ads in other states. Credible fact-checking services have debunked them.

His habit of ducking responsibility in business foretold how Scott would behave as governor. He is the most secretive governor in at least half a century. He keeps his schedule private as long as possible. He can do that because he owns the jet on which he travels.

Scott has had to duck the public a lot during this campaign. He blew off algae protesters in Martin County. He did the same thing in the Panhandle to Floridians angry that he had signed a bill restricting public beach access.

The governor built his political career with a fortune based on fraud. Perhaps people are starting to hold him responsible.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/fl-op-col-rick-scott-medicare-fraud-20181002-story.html

[Rick Plant]

Biden promotes US biotech, cancer fight in new 'Moonshot'



President Joe Biden issued an executive order Monday boosting the US biotech sector as part of his Cancer Moonshot initiative, which invokes the national effort to land a man on the Moon 60 years ago.

The Democrat was in Boston for an address deliberately set to echo John F. Kennedy's famous 1962 "Moonshot speech" in which he called for landing an American on the lunar surface -- something achieved in 1969.

This time, Biden is pushing for government-backed efforts to coordinate and fund a multilayered fight against cancer, with the goal of halving cancer death rates in the next 25 years.

As he set off from Washington, Biden issued an order meant to bolster the trailblazing US biotech sector's efforts to take on growing commercial rivals in China.

The order brings federal support for "areas that will define US biotechnology leadership and our economic competitiveness in the coming decades," a senior Biden administration official told reporters.

The official said that while US biotech research leads the world, the industrial applications are increasingly in the hands of other countries.

"Unless we translate biotechnology innovation into economic and societal benefits for all Americans, other countries, including and especially China, are aggressively investing in this sector," posing a "risk," the official said.

The White House says the US biotech industry is on the cutting edge of medical advances -- recently seen in the rapid development of vaccines, tests and therapeutics to help manage the Covid-19 pandemic -- but that the potential scope goes much further.

The official speaking to reporters cited studies suggesting that "before the end of the decade, engineering biology holds the potential to be used in manufacturing industry that accounts for more than one third of global output. That's equivalent to almost $30 trillion in terms of value."

Growing areas for biotech industry include new plastics and rubbers, jet fuel, and environmentally friendly fertilizers.

Personal issue for Biden

The battle against cancer is personal for Biden: his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 when Biden was vice president to Barack Obama.

In his speech at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Biden will lay out how his administration is seeking to slash cancer rates through a systemic revamp of government funding and support for everything from medical research to improving access to healthcare and better environmental conditions.

The linkage to the Moon program will seek to raise public awareness and support ahead of midterm congressional elections where the Democrats face the possibility of a Republican sweep in Congress, something which would severely complicate the next two years of Biden's first term.

Caroline Kennedy, the US ambassador to Australia and daughter of the assassinated JFK, told CNN she approved of the parallels drawn by Biden in the struggle to conquer the deadly disease.

"Sixty years after my father challenged Americans to land on the moon, President Biden is welcoming great challenges as new opportunities by setting us on a bold course to end cancer as we know it," she said.

Biden's focus on the cancer fight comes as NASA is once again looking to return to the Moon.

Agence France-Presse