The administration of the US president, Donald Trump, is to end the federal subsidy given to prescription drug insurance plans for citizens aged 65 and over under the Medicare health insurance programme. The Wall Street Journal reported the information on Tuesday.
The report said that if the decision takes effect, prescription drug costs for about 2 crore 50 lakh older citizens could rise significantly. The news agency AFP reported this from New York.
Citing officials of the Trump administration who did not wish to be named, the newspaper said the 3.6 billion dollars in subsidy the federal government had been paying to hold down increases in Medicare insurance premiums will end from December this year.
Those currently covered by the subsidised plans will learn the new premium rates in the autumn. The decision could become a political issue before the United States’ midterm elections in November, because the cost of prescription drugs is an important matter for many retired people and those on fixed incomes.
The non-profit health policy organisation KFF said the average monthly premium of a subsidised plan is about 36 dollars.
An official of the Trump administration told the Wall Street Journal that premiums for about a quarter of the customers covered by the subsidised plans would fall or remain unchanged in 2027. For a further 30 percent, monthly premiums would rise by less than 10 dollars.
The official said monthly premiums for the remaining 45 percent of customers would rise by between 11 and 20 dollars.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report