Inflation that scores of economists have blamed on Joe Biden’s policies and the Democrat-controlled Congress’ massive spending bills at a time of reduced inventories at supply chain issues is having a real, tangible, and disastrous effect on a growing number of Americans.
According to a Sunday report, nearly 100 million Americans have had to delay getting some form of medical care as “Bidenflation” continues to ravage paychecks and take-home pay.
As BizPac Review reports:
Between June 2-16, Gallup conducted a survey on behalf of the nonprofit group of organizations West Health to see how inflation was impacting financial decisions and more specifically, healthcare choices. After speaking with roughly 3,000 adults, the data found an estimated 98 million Americans were combating inflation at the cost of their own wellbeing.
At the time of the poll, while the consumer price index marked a 40-year high of 9.1 inflation, the burden of healthcare costs had also increased by 4.5 percent. To that end, consumers, especially those making less than $24,000 annually, listed medical care or filling prescriptions as something they’ve delayed or avoided to deal with rising expenses.
Other measures taken to handle the added cost of living included driving less, regulating utility usage, borrowing money to pay bills and skipping even among the wealthiest households with incomes over $180,000 per year. However, close to two-thirds of those in the lowest income bracket had reported taking more than one of these measures to get by.
“People have been making tradeoffs to pay for healthcare for years. Inflation has only made things worse as people are also now struggling with the high price of gas, food, and electricity,” said Timothy A. Lash, president of West Health.
“However, unlike those expenses, Congress has the power right now to reduce healthcare prices, particularly for prescription drugs. Legislation is on the table,” he noted further.
Biden took credit for July job growth numbers — 528,000 added to payrolls, bringing the unemployment rate to 3.5 percent. But that’s what it was in February 2020, before then-President Donald Trump was talked into recommending the country shut down to ‘bend the curve’ of COVID (which didn’t work, by the way).
Also, economists know that the legislation “on the table” is just another massive government spending package that literally won’t ‘reduce inflation’ like Democrats claim because increased government spending during inflationary periods has always been a bad idea.
According to Fox Business, 230 economists said in a letter that the “Inflation Reduction Act” is grossly misnamed:
The economists wrote in the letter first obtained by Fox News Digital that the U.S. economy is at a “dangerous crossroads” and the “inaptly named ‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’ would do nothing of the sort and instead would perpetuate the same fiscal policy errors that have helped precipitate the current troubling economic climate.” …
The economic experts point to the $433 billion in proposed government spending, which they argue “would create immediate inflationary pressures by boosting demand, while the supply-side tax hikes would constrain supply by discouraging investment and draining the private sector of much-needed resources.”
They also write that of “particular concern” is the corporate minimum tax that they say will undercut efforts to restore functioning supply chains.
“Inflation is hollowing out consumer spending habits across an array of areas,” said Dan Witters, a senior researcher at Gallup.
“What is found just under the surface is that after gas and groceries, the role of inflation in reducing the pursuit of needed care is large and significant. And the rising cost of care itself, which is originating from an already elevated level, is having an outsized impact on lessening other forms of spending, compounding the problem,” Witters noted further.
