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Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Friday a slate of economic proposals that she would prioritize during her first 100 days in office, if she were to win the presidential election.
The proposals included a number of healthcare policies aiming to lower prescription drug costs and alleviate medical debt, according to a factsheet shared by her campaign.
Some of the proposals build upon policies passed by the Biden-Harris Administration in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 — including a cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and Medicare drug price negotiations.
Cap out-of-pocket prescription drug costs
Harris said she would cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month and cap yearly out-of-pocket costs for all prescription drugs at $2,000 for everyone, and not just seniors on Medicare.
Under the IRA, the $35 cap on insulin went into effect in 2023 for people on Medicare. The $2,000 cap for Medicare beneficiaries is set to start next year.
Accelerate Medicare drug price negotiations
Harris also proposes to speed up Medicare negotiations over prescription drugs — another program first introduced with IRA.
The proposal comes just a after the Department of Health and Human Services HHS-0.28% (HHS) announced the lowered prices of the first 10 prescription drugs that underwent Medicare negotiations.
The IRA gave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS-0.38% (CMS) the power to negotiate the price for brand-name drugs that make up the most of Medicare’s prescription drug spending.
The first negotiations resulted in price discounts ranging from 38% to 79%. The new prices are set to go in to effect in 2026 and are expected to save people who have Medicare prescription coverage $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.
CMS is set to select 15 more drugs for price negotiations by February 2025.
Promote competition in the healthcare industry
The campaign also said Harris will increase competition in the healthcare industry by “cracking down on pharmaceutical companies who block competition and abusive practices by pharmaceutical middlemen who squeeze small pharmacies’ profits and raise costs for consumers.”
Cancel medical debt
Finally, Harris’ campaign said she plans to work with states to cancel medical debt for millions of Americans.
“This plan builds on Vice President Harris’ leadership in removing medical debt from nearly all Americans’ credit reports and in helping secure American Rescue Plan funds to cancel $7 billion of medical debt for up to 3 million Americans,” the campaign wrote.