Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2024
December 31, 2024
I believe that health care should be a right—not a privilege—and throughout my Presidency I have advanced that goal. This week, we take another step closer to an America where everyone can afford the quality health care they need, as Medicare's new $2,000 cap on prescription drug costs from my Inflation Reduction Act goes fully into effect.
Before I took office, people with Medicare who took expensive drugs could face a crushing burden, paying $10,000 a year or more in copays for the drugs they need to stay alive. When I took on Big Pharma and won, we changed that, capping seniors' out-of-pocket spending on drugs they get at the pharmacy for the first time ever. Costs were capped at about $3,500 in 2024, and in just the first 6 months of the year, this policy saved people with Medicare $1 billion in cost sharing. On January 1, 2025, the cap on drug costs fully phases in, and costs are now capped at
$2,000 per year. As a result, 19 million people are expected to save an average of $400 each. That's a game changer for the American people.
My Inflation Reduction Act has changed Medicare for the better, and as a result, Americans will have more money back in their pockets in the years to come.
Categories: Statements by the President : Prescription drug costs under Medicare.
Subjects: Health care costs and affordability; Medicare and Medicaid programs; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts.
DCPD Number: DCPD202401113.