By Justin Sink December 15, 2020, 3:55 PM CST
The Trump
administration expects to begin sending $200 prescription drug discount cards
to seniors by Jan. 1, a campaign promise to seniors that President Donald Trump
was unable to fulfill before losing re-election, a person familiar with the
matter said.
A White
House official described the time line for distributing the cards to Medicare
beneficiaries, asking not to be identified discussing internal planning.
Politico reported late Monday that an obscure industry panel that advises the
Internal Revenue Service on administering benefit cards abruptly dropped its opposition to the drug cards.
Trump
announced the program – which is expected to cost at least $6.6 billion - in
late September, promising the cards for Medicare recipients would be mailed out
“in coming weeks.”
“Nobody
has seen this before. These cards are incredible,” Trump said.
Democrats
called the program an outright attempt to buy votes from elderly people, and
White House aides conceded that the effort was hastily assembled ahead of
Election Day. The cards encountered objections within the administration,
consigning them to a list of other election-year promises -- an overhaul of the
immigration system, a replacement for Obamacare -- that never materialized
before Trump’s defeat by former Vice President Joe Biden.
The
approval Monday by the Special Interest Group for Inventory Information
Approval System Standards – a panel known as SIGIS that primarily assists the
federal government with the use of debit cards for tax-exempt medical expenses
– cleared the way for the distribution of the cards, according to the White
House official. Trump has said 33 million Medicare beneficiaries could receive
the benefit, which can be used for prescription drug co-payments.
Politico
reported that SIGIS had initially blocked the issuance of the cards and that
despite weeks of pressure from the White House and Treasury Department, the
panel’s approval surprised some administration officials.
The White
House has said the program is a legal “test” allowed under a provision of the
Medicare program that allows the federal government to experiment with methods
to improve medical outcomes and lower costs.
Democrats
have called for an expedited independent review of the program, questioning its
legal authority.
“After
four years of empty promises to lower drug prices for the American people, the
president now appears to be attempting to buy votes just weeks before the
election using taxpayer dollars,” Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Ron
Wyden of Oregon, said in a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary
Alex Azar after the program’s announcement.
HHS and
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services didn’t immediately respond to
requests for comment.
—
With assistance by Josh Wingrove
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