LANSING, Mich. — U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin visited the Alfreda Schmidt Community Center in Lansing Thursday afternoon to speak with dozens of senior community members about the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Biden last month.
The round-table discussion started with Rep. Slotkin honoring 100-year-old World War II veteran from Rochester, Paul Landsberg.
"It's been a great ride all the way down," Landsberg said. "What I say to you, keep active. Do not give up the ship."
The discussion then moved to the Inflation Reduction Act, which will take effect in January.
"We passed some pretty significant prescription drug pricing legislation in early August, and I wanted to get people together to just tell them what happened and then what to expect on their bills come January, and let people ask questions, give them materials to understand, just kind of get the word out on prescription drug pricing, and how it's going to change if you are on Medicare," Rep. Slotkin said.
The new law reduces out-of-pocket expenses for seniors on Medicare, allows Medicare to negotiate drug costs and caps the cost of Insulin to $35 a month for Medicare recipients.
According to Rep. Slotkin, many people in Michigan are, "paying more in healthcare and prescription drugs than they are on their mortgage."
Rep. Slotkin said one of the main reasons she decided to run for Congress was the price of healthcare and prescription drugs.
"In particular, with my mom's struggle with ovarian cancer, and her being diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer when she did not have health insurance," Rep. Slotkin said. "To be able to come here and talk about, 'This is what we did. It is done. It's starting in January. You're going to get Insulin capped at $35 a month if you're on Medicare.' It's just a full-circle moment for me."
Lansing resident Norma Bauer, however, said she thinks Rep. Slotkin could focus more on prevention.
"I can see that it helped people like her mother who needed that, and there are plenty of people like that, and there are plenty of people like that because of the social determinants of healthcare," Bauer said. "If you're poor, uneducated, can't get a job...you are not going to be able to pay for health insurance under our current system—better to deal with things on a prevention level."
In November, Rep. Slotkin will go head-to-head with Republican candidate Tom Barrett for Michigan's 7th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. FOX 47 News is working with Barrett and his campaign to schedule a one-on-one interview to get his perspective on this act, and more.
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