Washington DC — Today, Protect Our Care is kicking off week two of the Inflation Reduction Act themed weeks, which focuses on how seniors will save thousands of dollars a year thanks to the bill’s provisions to drive down prescription drug costs. Seniors are especially vulnerable to high prescription drug costs, with nearly one in four struggling to access the medications they need to survive. The Inflation Reduction Act takes critical steps to lower costs for millions of seniors: it gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices, it caps annual out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000, it limits insulin copays to $35 per month, and it imposes a penalty on drug companies who raise Medicare drug prices fast than the rate of inflation.
Along with lowering premium costs for millions of Americans, the Inflation Reduction Act will deliver long-overdue relief to working families and seniors, and it will address the deep racial inequities in our health care system.
“The Inflation Reduction Act is a godsend for our nation’s seniors” said Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse. “It is shameful that seniors have been forced to choose between cutting pills in half and putting food on the table. Democrats’ legislation finally stands up to Big Pharma and delivers long-overdue relief to millions of seniors and their families. Despite a $100 million lobbying campaign from the pharmaceutical industry and unified opposition from Republican lawmakers, President Biden and Democrats delivered on their promises to put people over politics.”
Over the next several weeks, Protect Our Care will release fact sheets and host nationwide events with elected officials, storytellers, and health care advocates to highlight the Inflation Reduction Act’s critical measures to drive down health care and prescription drug costs.
Inflation Reduction Act Themed Weeks:
- Week 1: GOP Accountability. Week one focuses on how every Republican lawmaker in Congress stood by Big Pharma and other special interests and voted against lower health care costs for the American people.
- Week 2: Seniors. Week two is bringing attention to the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions to lower prescription drug costs for millions of seniors.
- Week 3: Lower Health Care Premiums. Week three focuses on how millions of Americans will save on their health care premiums thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act.
- Week 4: Cancer. The final week highlights how patients fighting serious diseases like cancer stand to save thousands of dollars a year on their health care costs.
The Inflation Reduction Act will drastically reduce the cost of prescription drugs for 49 million Americans enrolled in Medicare’s Part D drug benefit, improve their access to health care, and reduce racial, income, and geographic disparities in health care, and save lives. Seniors will no longer have to choose between paying for the drugs they need and other essentials like food and housing.
By The Numbers:
- 49 million Medicare beneficiaries will no longer face Big Pharma’s outrageous price hikes that exceed inflation beginning in 2023.
- All Medicare Part D beneficiaries will have access to covered vaccines, such as Shingles and pneumonia, at no cost starting in 2023.
- No Medicare beneficiary will pay more than $35 a month for insulin beginning in 2023.
- 49 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries will have out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs capped at $2,000 per year beginning in 2025.
- The cost of 80 of the most expensive prescription drugs will be reduced because Medicare has the power to negotiate.