Latest news with #IndianaManufacturersAssociation
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New law raises prescription drug costs for most Hoosiers
SEA 140 mandates insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, or other administrators of pharmacy benefits to reimburse pharmacies at a rate that includes "a fair and reasonable dispensing fee.' This mandated fee will raise prescription drug costs on consumers. (Getty Images) Because most Hoosiers rely on their employers for health care coverage and the manufacturing industry employs 1 in 5 Hoosiers, the Indiana Manufacturers Association (IMA) has long championed efforts to control spiraling health care costs. This issue is critical to individuals and employers alike, and the IMA is encouraged that Indiana has seen a lot of improvement on this topic in recent legislative sessions. Senate Enrolled Act 140, however, takes a step in the wrong direction. By mandating pharmacy dispensing fees, SEA 140 will ultimately burden employers and individuals with higher prescription drug expenses across the board. At the heart of our concern is the provision within SEA 140 that mandates insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, or other administrators of pharmacy benefits to reimburse pharmacies at a rate that includes 'a fair and reasonable dispensing fee.' This mandated fee will raise prescription drug costs on consumers. Our estimates indicate that this bill will lead to at least $100 million in new health care spending. It's crucial to understand that these increased costs won't simply be absorbed by insurers or employers. Instead, they will inevitably be passed down to consumers, further straining already tight family budgets. As businesses grapple with higher health care expenses, they may be forced to make difficult decisions, such as reducing benefits, raising employee deductibles, or increasing employee copays for prescription drugs. This ultimately translates to less money in the pockets of Hoosier families, making it harder to afford essential goods and services. Indiana employers, who provide health insurance benefits to their employees, will also bear a substantial burden. The increased cost of providing these benefits may very well negate any progress made this year in lowering health care costs. This is a serious concern for Indiana manufacturers, who already face a competitive disadvantage compared to companies in states with lower health care costs. The new spending mandated by SEA 140 will only exacerbate this problem. We are also troubled by the fact that SEA 140 exempts Medicaid and the state employee health plan. This exemption means that commercial payers, employers and individuals who purchase private health insurance will disproportionately shoulder the burden of these increased costs, while the state itself avoids the financial impact. Simply put, legislators recognized the cost of this new fee and protected the budget they were writing but still raised the cost of prescription drugs on the private sector. Pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform is necessary, and SEA 140 does contain some positive provisions. However, these positive aspects are overshadowed by the misguided and unfair mandate on health care payers. The IMA is committed to addressing the rising cost of health care in Indiana because we recognize the burden it places on Hoosier employers, employees, and families. Moving forward, we encourage the legislature to pursue a more equitable approach to addressing pharmacy reimbursement issues. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Transparency and accountability: the path to meaningful health care pricing reform
House Bill 1004 introduces measures to increase transparency in hospital pricing and to put pressure on exorbitant cost.(Getty Images) As the voice of Indiana's manufacturers, the Indiana Manufacturers Association (IMA) is deeply concerned about the escalating cost of health care — particularly hospital prices — which place Indiana businesses at a significant competitive disadvantage. Transparency and accountability are the answer. The Employer Price Transparency Study – Round 5, conducted by RAND, has consistently shown that Indiana's hospital prices are among the highest in the nation, ranking 8th overall. Hoosier employers and employees are paying nearly three times what Medicare pays for the exact same services at the same hospitals — an average of 297% compared to the national average of 254%. This alarming statistic demonstrates a clear need for reform. These inflated hospital costs have a direct and negative impact on Indiana's manufacturing sector. Every dollar spent on excessive health care charges is a dollar that cannot be invested in workforce development, technological advancements, or business expansion. In a global marketplace, our ability to compete hinges on our efficiency and our ability to attract and retain a skilled workforce. The current high cost of health care in Indiana makes it more difficult for manufacturers to offer competitive benefits packages and to allocate resources strategically for future growth. Since self-funded employers pay directly for their employees' health care claims, escalating hospital prices translate to immediate and substantial increases in their expenditures. These rising costs force employers to allocate more resources to health care, potentially diverting funds from other critical business areas. Ultimately, the financial burden of high hospital prices significantly affects the sustainability and competitiveness of all employers, but most acutely self-funded insurance models. House Bill 1004 takes meaningful steps toward addressing this issue. It introduces measures to increase transparency in hospital pricing and to put pressure on exorbitant costs. For instance, the bill establishes a hospital facility fee excise tax for charges exceeding 265% of Medicare facility fees. Under this legislation, nonprofit hospitals would be mandated to report aggregate data on billed services and their comparison to Medicare reimbursement rates. Nonprofit hospitals charging more than 300% of their modified Medicare reimbursement rate could forfeit their nonprofit status. These provisions are critical for bringing much-needed transparency and accountability to our health care system. The passage of HB 1004 is not just about lowering health care costs; it is about strengthening Indiana's economy and ensuring a prosperous future for our manufacturing industry and its employees. By addressing the issue of high hospital prices, we can free up valuable resources that can be reinvested in our workforce, making Indiana a more attractive place to do business and create jobs. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Boston Globe
11-02-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Is it made of metal? It could get more expensive under Trump's latest tariffs.
Advertisement All of those could affect the outcome, which is why steel users are proceeding with caution. Angela Holt, who runs a precision machining company and heads the board of the Indiana Manufacturers Association, said the potential impacts on businesses are 'complex.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It could affect not only the cost but the availability, depending on their situation,' Holt said. 'It's highly varied, even among industries — I think it's going to depend on an individual basis where they source their materials, what the competition looks like.' Lessons from last time Although the American steel and aluminum industries are far weaker than they were in their heyday in the 1970s, US companies import only about 26 percent of the steel they use, according to the International Trade Administration, and that number has been falling. At the same time, end users seeking alternatives to foreign suppliers may have options. US iron and steel producers are operating at only about 70 percent capacity. The first Trump administration aimed to get to 80 percent, and did so briefly. But underpriced Chinese exports have taken a toll on domestic producers in recent years, forcing older, less efficient mills to close and leaving others with fewer orders than they can handle. Also, primary metal tariffs don't appear to be completely passed on to consumers. According to a 2020 study by economists at Columbia University, Princeton University and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, foreign exporters absorbed about half of the 2018 steel tariffs, dropping their prices to maintain access to the US market. Advertisement Still, that doesn't mean prices won't increase. In 2023, the US International Trade Commission found that those tariffs increased steel and aluminum prices on average by 2.4 percent and 1.6 percent. Perhaps accordingly, the stocks of US metals processors like Nucor, Steel Dynamics and Cleveland-Cliffs rose Monday, in anticipation of Trump's tariff announcement. 'I think the big takeaway is there were a lot of downstream industries that were impacted,' said Alex Durante, a senior economist at the Tax Foundation who has written about the economic impact of tariffs. 'The main effects outweighed whatever positive effect on the steel and aluminum producers, the smelters and refineries.' There are also reasons to think the impact might be worse for metal users this time. US manufacturing is in a delicate state, muffled by high interest rates and a strong dollar that makes exports less competitive. Unemployment remains low, and as the Trump administration cracks down on immigration, labor may get more expensive. Steel and aluminum prices spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and haven't fallen to their previous levels. That's why additional tariffs could have a greater impact — especially if they end up stacked on top of across-the-board tariffs on Canadian imports, which Trump has said could take effect March 1. 'It contributes to a number of things that are already putting stress on a tight macroeconomic situation,' said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Cans, houses, cars For an idea of which industries could be most affected by new tariffs, it's helpful to look at how important steel and aluminum are to their production. Advertisement As part of its report on the impact of the 2018 Trump tariffs, the International Trade Commission ranked industries by their dependence on the two metals. A type of business that uses the most steel is motor vehicle metal stamping, at 58 percent, with other components of auto manufacturing also using quite a bit. While much of the steel that auto manufacturers use is produced in the United States, those companies and their suppliers also depend on specialized alloys that are available only from overseas producers. Virtually all automakers would be affected, including Tesla, which in 2023 petitioned for an exemption to tariffs. The company told officials it needed steel available only from abroad, reportedly for the Cybertruck, which has a stainless steel body. (Tesla's stock price dropped 3 percent Monday.) Many automakers are already struggling to remain profitable in the face of increased competition from Chinese automakers and the cost of developing electric models. Tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada could damage the creditworthiness of some manufacturers — particularly Nissan and Stellantis — said Fitch Ratings, which grades company finances. Next up for reliance on steel: buildings. Commercial construction and large apartment buildings require a lot of rebar — a steel reinforcement in concrete — which could add quite a bit to the bill for developers. Carl Harris, chair of the National Association of Home Builders, noted Monday that Trump had said he wanted to make housing more affordable. 'His move to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum products imports into the US runs totally counter to this goal by raising home building costs, deterring new development and frustrating efforts to rebuild in the wake of natural disasters,' Harris said in a statement. 'Ultimately, consumers will pay for these tariffs in the form of higher home prices.' Advertisement One sector that uses no steel but a lot of aluminum is brewing and soft drink bottling. In 2018, when aluminum tariffs were set at 10 percent, they added half a billion dollars to production costs, according to the American Beverage Association. Planes and bridges? The impact on other industries is unclear. Higher aluminum prices could affect Boeing, for example. The company is already behind schedule on jet deliveries after a quality crisis and extended worker strike last year. In a recent securities filing, it said tariffs, particularly on aluminum and titanium, could mean that the company would be 'unable to deliver one or more of our products in a timely fashion or at budgeted costs.' But when Trump imposed similar restrictions on aluminum and steel in 2018, Boeing and its top supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, said the effects were limited. Boeing's CEO at the time, Dennis Muilenburg, said at an investor conference that the company sourced about 90 percent of its aluminum within the United States, adding that Boeing was 'not significantly exposed.' The company and its suppliers also use consortia and long-term contracts to securely source and stabilize prices of raw materials. Another big user of metal is the federal government, through construction and repair of railroads, bridges, submarines and aircraft carriers. Most of those are already required to use domestically produced steel and aluminum, but tariffs can push up those prices, too. Tariffs could also feed into the price of energy, both fossil-fuel-based and renewable. Drilling equipment and pipelines for oil and gas are made of steel and aluminum, as are racks for solar arrays and towers for wind turbines. And building new transmission lines, which is necessary for both types of energy, would get more expensive. Advertisement Energy companies could sidestep tariffs by buying those finished goods from overseas. But that would undermine the goal of the Biden administration's subsidies for renewable energy development that used domestically produced parts and equipment, which had fueled a small boom in US factory construction. This article originally appeared in .
New York Times
11-02-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Is It Made of Metal? It Could Get More Expensive Under Trump's Latest Tariffs.
America has seen this movie before: President Trump, who imposed stiff tariffs on Monday on imported steel and aluminum, did so once before, in 2018. So domestic industries have a pretty good idea of how the story ends. Manufacturers of trucks, appliances and construction equipment scramble to find U.S. sources of metal inputs, keeping steel and aluminum producers busier than they were before. Companies that need specific alloys that aren't made domestically are forced to pay more. Prices rise, making end products more expensive. But there may be plot twists along the way. Will Mr. Trump cut deals with some countries, allowing large shipments in without the new duties? Will he set up a process to give companies a reprieve if they can demonstrate a hardship? (On Monday, a White House official said there would be no exclusions.) All of those could affect the outcome, which is why steel users are proceeding with caution. Angela Holt, who runs a precision machining company and heads the board of the Indiana Manufacturers Association, says the potential impacts on businesses are 'complex.' 'It could affect not only the cost but the availability, depending on their situation,' Ms. Holt said. 'It's highly varied, even among industries — I think it's going to depend on an individual basis where they source their materials, what the competition looks like.' Although the American steel and aluminum industries are far weaker than they were in their heyday in the 1970s, U.S. companies import only about 26 percent of the steel they use, according to the International Trade Administration, and that number has been falling. Producer price indices show a slight increase after tariffs were imposed in 2018, but lockdowns and increased demand for goods made a bigger impact two years later. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics By The New York Times Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
