Seniors Will Save in 2024 Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act: Lower Drug Costs, Monthly Insulin Cap, and Free Vaccines
Washington, D.C. — Sunday, October 15, is the beginning of Medicare open enrollment and 65 million Americans will sign up for 2024 coverage. As seniors select their plans, they will see new benefits that could save them thousands of dollars on their vaccines and prescription drug costs. Signed into law by President Biden last year without a single Republican vote, the Inflation Reduction Act delivered $35 caps on insulin, free shingles and other recommended vaccinations, protections from drug company price hikes greater than inflation, and beginning in 2025, a maximum $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs no matter how expensive those drugs are.
Critically, the law also gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. Right now, the Biden administration is in the process of lowering prices for the first round of prescription drugs under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, and those prices will be decided in 2025 and take effect in 2026. This new program will lower prices for some of the highest-priced prescription drugs on the market used to treat conditions like diabetes, heart failure, blood clots, and autoimmune disorders, and in turn lower out-of-pocket and Medicare premiums. In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“As seniors enroll in their 2024 Medicare plans, they will see new benefits that could save them thousands of dollars on their vaccine and prescription drug costs, with even more savings in the years ahead. Not only will the Inflation Reduction Act save people money at the pharmacy counter, but it will touch everyone on Medicare through lower premium costs. This relief is long-overdue for seniors who are sick and tired of cutting their pills in half and paying up to four times more for their prescriptions than people in other countries so that big drug companies can fuel their massive profits. The contrast couldn’t be clearer – Democrats are standing up to big drug companies, Republicans in Congress are working overtime to rip away all of these new savings and raise costs for seniors across America.”