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Americans Get Lower Health Care Costs Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration and Democrats in Congress

The Inflation Reduction Act has lowered health care and prescription drug costs for tens of millions of Americans, with even more savings to come. 

This historic legislation from the Biden-Harris administration lowers premium costs for people purchasing coverage on their own by an average of $2,400 per family. It also lowers drug prices by capping monthly insulin costs for people on Medicare at $35, limiting out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 annually, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and penalizes drug companies for raising drug prices faster than inflation. President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are giving people economic breathing room and keeping families healthy. 

Meanwhile, MAGA Republicans are ramping up their war on health care, trying to raise costs for hardworking families and give more tax breaks to drug and insurance companies. Republican lawmakers unanimously voted against all of these policies and are working to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act altogether. Pharmaceutical companies and their Republican allies are hard at work sabotaging the law. Right now, big drug companies are in court trying to take away Medicare’s power to negotiate. Project 2025 fully repeals the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions that are saving Americans thousands of dollars on health care. Republicans are continuing to side with drug industry lobbyists and put profits over people. MAGA Republicans also want to terminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid, and rip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Project 2025 proposes overhauling Medicaid expansion and imposing onerous work requirements, time limits, and lifetime caps, eliminating mandatory benefits, and funneling Medicaid funding toward vouchers for private insurance, whose plans will be far less affordable and provide fewer benefits.

By the Numbers:

  • 1.5 million Americans on Medicare who use insulin are now saving on average $501 annually thanks to the $35 per month insulin cap and thousands of other Americans have seen their insulin prices fall thanks to Democratic investigations and policies holding pharmaceutical companies responsible for their price gouging.
  • 14,295,339 Americans are saving an average of $527 on monthly health insurance premiums.
  • 18.7 million Americans will save an average $396.08 thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cost cap, effective in 2025. In 2022, 38,279,655 Americans on Medicare but not on a low income subsidy spent an average of $462 out-of-pocket on prescription drugs.
  • 10,269,000 of America’s seniors, 20 percent of the state’s Part D population, received the shingles vaccination and other recommended vaccinations free of cost last year
  • 82,751,338 Americans on Medicaid and CHIP will maintain or gain access to expanded vaccine coverage of which around 20.5 percent are Black, 36.9 percent are Hispanic, and 3.4 percent are Asian American or Pacific Islanders according to national averages.

The Details:

Medicare’s Price Negotiation Power Will Lower Drug Costs for Over 9 million Americans. Made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, allows Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies for medications without generic or biosimilar options. The first ten drugs selected for negotiation were announced last year and price changes will begin in 2026. Around 9,046,000 Americans are currently taking one or more of the ten drugs currently up for negotiation, of which around 48 percent are women.

The Inflation Reduction Act Will Save Senior Americans On Medicare Over $7.4 billion Cumulatively On Prescription Drugs. The Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act will save Americans an average of $396.08 thanks to the $2,000 annual cost cap, which begins in January 2025. The Inflation Reduction Act also now caps monthly insulin costs at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries, which will help 1.5 million Americans who rely on insulin. Right now, the Biden-Harris administration is negotiating lower prices for people with Medicare for some of the most popular and costly drugs. This is supported by over 80 percent of Americans.

Health Insurance Premiums Lowered For Over 14.2 million Americans. A record breaking 21,446,150 Americans enrolled in an ACA marketplace plan in 2024, with around 52 percent of enrollees being women. Last year, 14,295,339 Americans, or 91 percent of those with an ACA plan, received enhanced premium tax credits, making their coverage more affordable and accessible, and this year that number has only increased. The Inflation Reduction Act saves an average middle class family of four in United States $6,604 on their yearly premiums.

Coverage for Communities of Color Expanded To Address Health Care Equity. The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities estimates the increased savings under the Inflation Reduction Act will cause a sharp decline in the uninsured rate across every racial group. The extended premium savings provided in the Inflation Reduction Act have made more than 65 percent of uninsured Black adults eligible for zero-dollar premium plans and 75 percent eligible for plans less than $50 a month. For uninsured Hispanic and Latino adults, now more than 68 percent are eligible for zero dollar premium plans and nearly 80 percent can access plans for less than $50 a month. Health coverage access is imperative to reducing racial disparities in health coverage across the nation. 

Premiums For Low-Wage Workers Eliminated. The Inflation Reduction Act ensures no Americans with incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level pay a premium when buying their coverage on the Marketplace.

Costs Cut For Rural America. Thanks to the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, roughly 65 percent of rural Americans have access to zero-dollar premium health coverage and more than 76 percent are able to find a plan for less than $50 a month, narrowing the coverage differences between rural and urban America.

Over 10.2 million Americans Can Receive Free Shingles Vaccinations, Thanks To The Inflation Reduction Act. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, 10,269,000 of United States seniors are eligible for no-cost shingles vaccinations. In 2020, nearly 4 million Medicare beneficiaries received the two-part shingles vaccination. With a single shot of Shingrix costing $212, seniors on Medicare Part D saved over $400 on average on vaccinations in 2023. The high out-of-pocket cost of the shingles vaccine has been a key factor in low vaccination rates, especially among Black and Latino communities. This extends an important affordable preventive service to seniors on Medicare.

Better Coverage of Vaccinations For Medicaid Recipients Benefit Over 82.7 million Americans. The Inflation Reduction Act also requires state Medicaid and CHIP programs to cover vaccines recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without out-of-pocket costs. This will allow an estimated 82,751,338 Americans to gain or maintain access to no-cost shingles vaccines. More accessible vaccinations will particularly help low-income families who rely on Medicaid, many of whom are people of color and people with disabilities. 

The Biden-Harris Administration Protects Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions. President Biden announced executive actions to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions from junk insurance plans and surprise medical billing. Republicans in Congress are continuing to pick profits over people by passing legislation to change the rules in favor of Association Health Plans (AHPs) that undermine the ACA. AHPs are not required to have the same protections that ACA plans have. Savings in AHPs come at the expense of people with pre-existing conditions and higher health care costs.

State-By-State Inflation Reduction Act Fact Sheets

State-By-State Affordable Care Act Fact Sheets