FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, November 19th, 2021
Contact: Linda Benesch, lbenesc
Build Back Better is a Historic Victory for Seniors
(Washington, DC) — The following is a statement from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, on the U.S. House of Representatives voting to pass the Build Back Better Act:
“This morning, the House passed the most meaningful drug pricing reform in American history. The Build Back Better Act will ensure that no Medicare beneficiary pays more than $2000 a year for prescription drugs. The government will finally have the power to negotiate lower prices on key medications, including insulin. And pharmaceutical companies will no longer be allowed to raise their prices faster than the rate of inflation.
The Build Back Better Act also contains funding for home and community-based long-term care services. This will allow more seniors and people with disabilities to stay in their homes instead of nursing homes — a starting point towards transforming our nation’s long-term care system to focus on providing care instead of generating profits.
The Build Back Better Act expands Medicare to cover hearing aids and other hearing care. Two-thirds of seniors over age 70 suffer from hearing loss. When Build Back Better’s Medicare expansion goes into effect, many of them will hear their grandchildren’s voices clearly for the first time.
This legislation is historic, and it is only the beginning. The White House must build on Build Back Better’s drug pricing provisions with executive action. We must continue moving towards Medicare for All by lowering the Medicare eligibility age and adding vision and dental coverage. And Congress must protect and expand Social Security so that no one retires into poverty.
Now, it’s time for the Senate to pass the Build Back Better Act into law. Then, Democrats should spend the next year reminding seniors — the most reliable voters in midterm elections — of what happened today: Nearly every House Democrat voted to lower drug prices, expand Medicare, and fund home care, while every single House Republican voted no.”
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Social Security Works is a non-profit organization working to improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations by fighting to expand Social Security, improve Medicare, and lower the outrageous prices of prescription drugs