DSCC: New Reporting Highlights "How Inflation Reduction Act Will Help Black Communities."

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 -- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued the following news release:

News coverage is highlighting how Senate Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will lower costs like prescription drug prices, make health insurance more affordable, tackle inflation and benefit Black communities across the country.

Read more below:

BET: White House Details How Inflation Reduction Act Will Help Black Communities

* "President Biden and Congressional Democrats beat back the special interests to pass this historic legislation that lowers costs for Black Americans and their families, advances environmental justice while building a cleaner future, and grows the economy from the bottom up and the middle out," a White House statement said.

* IRA lowers prescription costs for seniors and expands access to health insurance by lowering premiums, two factors that have contributed to the racial gap in health care. The administration noted that Black Medicare beneficiaries are about two times more likely than their white counterparts to not fill needed prescriptions due to cost.

* At a time when utility bills are skyrocketing, the new legislation promises to help keep costs down. It makes purchasing energy efficient and electric appliances more affordable, enabling families on a tight budget to save money. They can save up to 30% with tax credits on items such as air conditioners and furnaces.

* It also tackles the consequences of climate change and pollution, which disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of color. IRA creates environmental justice block grants to address pollution, funds affordable housing upgrades to reinforce homes against climate impacts, such as flooding, expands a federal forestry program to plant more trees that help cool neighborhoods in underserved communities, and more.

EBONY: Inflation Reduction Act Has Promising Benefits for Black Communities

* What the President signed into law is a measure that the Administration says will reduce prescription drug costs for Americans, make health care insurance more affordable, and lower energy costs, while simultaneously making the tax code fairer. The law has also made one of the largest investments in climate investments possible.

* "It really completes the trio of President Biden's signature efforts in economics, which is to make investments in our economy to ensure that we have better economic growth going forward and that that growth is more actually shared," Cecilia Rouse, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers tells EBONY in the hours leading up to the act's signing. "And this has a significant effect on Black communities."

* Rouse highlights that prescription drug costs are a very big problem for Black seniors. Black Medicare beneficiaries are roughly one-and-a-half times as likely as white beneficiaries to have trouble affording medications. They are also twice as likely to not fill their prescriptions due to cost. The Inflation Reduction Act will cap the amount that seniors have to pay for prescription drugs at the pharmacy at $2,000 a year. "So it gives them the peace of mind that they will no longer have to worry about having a very large surprise bill when getting the drugs they so desperately need," Rouse says.

* The law also caps the amount that seniors will have to pay for insulin at $35 a month from the U.S. supply. Black adults in the U.S. are 60 percent more likely than white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes and need this life-saving medication. It will also allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs for high-priced drugs. Additionally, it lowers health insurance premiums and expands coverage throughout the nation.

* "About 3.9 million Black Americans were uninsured in 2019 before President Biden took office," Rouse points out. "And we know that about 570,000--almost 600,000 Black people fell into the Medicaid coverage gap which meant they were locked out of coverage because their state didn't expand Medicaid." This expansion allows those Americans to continue paying lower premiums, ensuring that they have greater access to health insurance.

TheGrio: How will the Inflation Reduction Act help Black communities?

* In an interview with theGrio, Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, called the Inflation Reduction Act a "historic piece of legislation" and emphasized the economic benefits for Black households.

* "Black Americans are about one and a half times more likely than whites to report having not been able to afford their medications," Rouse told theGrio. She noted that the Inflation Reduction Act would cap prescription drugs for Medicare recipients at $2,000 a year and cap insulin for Medicare recipients at $35 a month. Democrats also pushed to cap the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for those with private insurance, however, that provision was ultimately blocked by Republican Senators.

* "By continuing the improvements made through ARP, the Inflation Reduction Act will help keep free or low-cost health insurance available," said the White House. "Over half a million more Black Americans will have health insurance coverage next year, compared to without the IRA."

* The White House projects that households can save up to 30 percent with tax credits for home construction projects and could see their future utility bills lowered by at least $350 per year. In all, families taking advantage of the clean energy tax credits could save more than $1,000 per year, according to the Biden-Harris administration.

* The Inflation Reduction Act will also impose a corporate minimum tax on corporations making $1 billion or more and increase the budget for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by $80 billion to crack down on wealthy Americans who are dodging their taxes. As Jessica Fulton, vice president of policy at the Black think tank, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, previously told theGrio, the new tax policies could help close the racial wealth gap.

* Chair Rouse told theGrio that making the U.S. tax code "fairer" and reducing the gap in funding for the IRS will provide funding to invest back in Black communities. As an example, Rouse noted that there are environmental justice grants that will provide credits for solar projects in affordable housing projects.

* "It is also reducing pollution in urban places such as near ports, where we know that there's a lot of congestion and therefore a lot of air pollution. And so we need to be able to fund those kinds of investments," said Rouse. "This bill allows the federal government to do that while also lowering the deficit, which not only frees up resources for further investment in our economy but also has the benefit of helping to address inflation."

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Original text here: https://www.dscc.org/news/new-reporting-highlights-how-inflation-reduction-act-will-help-black-communities/