“Care Force One” is a bus traveling across the nation to celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act’s measures to drive down health care costs for millions of working families and seniors.
The bus will travel 12,000 miles, stopping at more than 40 events in 21 states. The bus stopped at SEIU Local 1107 in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The Mobile Health Care Act, passed on a bipartisan vote and signed into law Monday, allows federally qualified health centers to use already existing grant money to buy mobile units.
Those funds could previously only be used to buy new buildings. It was a bill Congresswoman Susie Lee championed in the House.
"We always say meet people where they are," she said Tuesday. "And this will allow those qualified health centers to actually bring care into neighborhoods and serve people who had such barriers, they didn’t access essential health care.”
This was separate from the Inflation Reduction Act, which Lee said brings down the cost of prescription drug prices such as insulin, with a price cap of $35 per month.
It also caps out-of-pockets expenses for seniors to $2,000 per year.
“For far too long, hardworking seniors have been forced to make the impossible choice between paying for their prescription medications or putting food on the table,” said Senator Jacky Rosen. “That is why I was proud to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act to lower the costs of prescription drugs for Nevada seniors and keep health care premiums low for families across Nevada.”
"For an average family of four in Nevada, they will save between $4,000 to $4,500 per year in healthcare premiums," Lee said.
It also extends the Affordable Care Act subsidies that were part of the American Rescue Plan.
“People should never have to choose between buying needed medicines and putting food on the table," said Congresswoman Dina Titus, "The same medicines are sold for much less in other countries, and insulin can be produced for only $10 a dose while my constituents are charged up to ten times more. As we vote to lower prices, the Republicans continue to side with Big Pharma and protect their mega-profits.”
