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Senator Jon Tester discusses healthcare savings for seniors during Kalispell visit

Tester
Posted at 4:16 PM, Mar 10, 2023
and last updated 2023-03-10 18:16:58-05

KALISPELL- U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) visited Logan Health in Kalispell Friday morning to discuss how the Inflation Reduction Act helps Montana seniors.

“We take those medications every month, every day, and they’re lifesavers,” said Vietnam veteran Thomas Humphreys.

Sen. Tester talked about the need to reduce healthcare expenses, saying the Inflation Reduction Act will do just that.

“This is going to help folks on fixed income in a big way to be able to pay the bills and not have to ration healthcare, not being able to pay their heating bill, that kind of stuff, it’s going to help, is it the cure-all of all our health care costs? No, but it’s a step, a giant step in the right direction,” said Tester.

Sen. Tester said the bill signed into law in August caps out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare patients at $2,000 a year and caps the cost of insulin for Medicare patients at $35 a month.

“One of my best friends in life got diabetes when he was in junior high and that was in the late 60s, and he’s seen insulin go through the roof, the delivery system has changed, but the product has not, and so it’s crazy to have those prices continue to go up and up and up just because somebody’s trying to make additional profits on the back of folks who have diabetes, and that’s why that cap was that important,” added Sen. Tester.

Humphreys said he and his wife are on a fixed income and that the healthcare savings go a long way for his family. “It’s nice to be able to cover the mortgage and other expenses that we have to have for living."