Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Op-Ed on ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Published

"New legislation would leave Floridians with fewer dollars and fewer cures," an op-ed by Akin Gump senior advisor Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has been published by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The op-ed discusses how the impact of inflation in the U.S. is being more strongly felt in Florida, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, currently being discussed on Capitol Hill, "would worsen inflation in the short term - and soon thereafter drastically cut back on investment in new medications for diseases from Alzheimer's to cancer."

Ros-Lehtinen explains that the measure seeks to extend Obamacare subsidies enacted as part of the COVID-19 relief plan, and the bill includes a proposal empowering the government to lower prices of name-brand drugs under Medicare to pay for the extension. Because the savings from the lower pricing-projected by the Congressional Budget Office to be $164 billion through 2031-would not begin until 2026, she notes, "That means the Obamacare subsidy extension will add billions of dollars we don't have to the federal deficit before substantial savings are ever realized from the Medicare overhaul."

She also notes that government price controls would limit the amount of money that biotech firms would make, and investors would have "little incentive" to fund research and development of cures.