Washington DC — AARP released a new report The report predicts that millions of Medicare enrollees would benefit from caps on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.
January, New copayment cap Medicare Part D enrollees will be eligible for prescription drug costs starting at $2,000 per year.
AARP estimates that more than 3 million Americans will benefit from the program in the first year, including about 204,000 Floridians.
“On average, about 1.4 million enrollees would save more than $1,000 each year, and more than 400,000 would save more than $3,000,” Lee Purvis, director of prescription drug policy at the AARP Public Policy Institute, said at a press conference Wednesday.
The changes are part of the Beat Inflation Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 and was supported by the AARP. The law also includes a $35 monthly cap on insulin and allows Medicare to negotiate prices with certain prescription drug companies.
Diana DiVito, an AARP member from Pennsylvania who has been battling a form of leukemia, said the cap would go a long way toward lowering the cost of life-saving drugs needed to fight cancer.
“I want everyone to know how important that $2,000 cap in 2025 is to someone like me,” she said. “It’s truly life-changing. And what people don’t understand is, when you’re not taking these expensive medications, you don’t know what an impact it has on your life. It’s a weight off my shoulders and I’m really grateful.”
AARP estimates that 4.1 million subscribers will benefit from the cap by 2029.
