Biden previews Medicare drug price, tax increase proposals – JP

That’s a significant expansion of his similar proposal in recent years which would have expanded the existing 3.8 percent investment income tax to active business owners. That proposal won tentative support from key Democratic centrist Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia last year, before being jettisoned in the final bargaining over what became a slimmed-down budget package. 

Other changes

Finally, the White House said Biden’s budget will propose capping cost-sharing at $2 a month per prescription for certain generic drugs covered under Medicare Part D, including those “used to treat chronic conditions like hypertension and high cholesterol,” the fact sheet said.

Among other changes, the budget also will propose: eliminating out-of-pocket expenses for three mental health or other behavioral health doctor visits per year; require Medicare coverage for new types of providers, like peer support workers and certified addiction counselors; and remove “unnecessary limitations on beneficiary access to psychiatric hospitals.”

If similar proposals didn’t go anywhere in an all-Democratic Congress, they’re even less likely under GOP control of the House. But proposing them in his budget allows Biden to draw a contrast with his Republican foes as he gears up for a likely campaign for reelection in 2024, and ahead of fraught talks this summer to raise the statutory debt limit.

“If the MAGA Republicans get their way, seniors will pay higher out-of-pocket costs on prescription drugs and insulin, the deficit will be bigger, and Medicare will be weaker. The only winner under their plan will be Big Pharma,” Biden wrote in the New York Times.