News & Alerts

NBCC Applauds Health Care Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act

August 12, 2022

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Since the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s founding in 1991, our mission has been to end breast cancer through the power of action and advocacy.  NBCC and our nationwide grassroots network celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The health care provisions in the Act will increase access to health care and lower costs for women and men with and at risk of breast cancer. While much more is needed to reach our goal of guaranteed access to quality health care for all and access to affordable and effective breast cancer therapies, we recognize the important step forward this legislation represents.

The legislation’s health care provisions will:

• Reduce prescription drug costs for nearly 1.4 million seniors enrolled in Medicare. It allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate the prices of certain drugs in the Medicare program. The negotiations will take effect for 10 drugs in 2026, increasing to 20 drugs in 2029.
• Require drug manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare for drugs that increase prices faster than inflation
• Cap out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 annually for Medicare beneficiaries, effective in 2025.
• Extend healthcare subsidies in the Affordable Care Act. This will save health care premium dollars for about 13 million Americans who buy coverage through ACA exchanges.

NBCC hopes these reforms mark merely the beginning of a much-needed shift to expanding access to health care for all and benefit patients rather than the many corporate and institutional interests in the U.S. drug pricing system that now profit from it.

Founded in 1991, NBCC is a collaboration of activists, survivors, researchers, policymakers, grassroots groups, and national organizations that have come together as disruptive innovators for social change with a mission to end breast cancer.