Reducing inflation and finding smart solutions on healthcare issues are important goals for our government, and most Americans would support that kind of legislation to fix the economy and improve healthcare.

However, the so-called and deceivingly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is not that kind of legislation.

This $700 billion legislation misses the mark in every way and would cost taxpayers billions of dollars while potentially putting Americans’ health at risk.

Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have come together to negotiate a reconciliation package centering on these issues and, in turn, have proposed legislation that would line the pockets of cash-flush insurance companies, waste taxpayer dollars, and reduce access to life-saving medicines – all while failing to reduce inflation.

A particularly devasting portion of the bill would institute price controls on prescription drugs through Medicare.

Healthcare patients, doctors, and the entire industry would suffer, as price controls are proven to restrict innovation and research into life-saving cures, restrict doctors’ choices, and limit patients’ options for cures.

Price controls would reduce jobs by the tens of thousands, reduce spending for new cures by billions of dollars, and delay access to medicines by months, years, or even indefinitely.

The Inflation Reduction Act would also line the pockets of health insurers while hospitals, doctors, and patients are struggling through the pandemic and inflation. Over-inflated health insurers do not need handouts as they continue to reach into taxpayer-funded programs while retaining their strength and wealth.

There is absolutely no guarantee that insurance companies would pass along the savings from price controls to patients. Innovation would be stalled and research funding decimated without any guarantee that prescription drug costs would go down for Americans in need.

Do you trust billion-dollar insurance companies to take their profits and pass them on to you? A quick search into their practices would leave you skeptical at best.

Another aspect of the Inflation Reduction Act that cannot be overlooked is that it would not, in fact, reduce inflation.

The Penn Wharton Model, which Senator Manchin himself has been known to watch, finds that the bill would have an effect “statistically indistinguishable from zero” on inflation. In other words, the act would not reduce inflation.

Indeed, during this time of inflation, the last thing we should be doing is flooding more federal money into the system.

The Schumer-Manchin deal is dangerous for American taxpayers and harmful to American healthcare patients. This legislation produces no positive impact on inflation and pads the pockets of already-rich insurance companies while everyday Americans are left high and dry.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 must be opposed.

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Kent Kaiser, Ph.D., is executive director of the Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity. More information is available at www.promote-trade.org.