Sinema negotiated the historic, transformative prescription drug reforms included in the Inflation Reduction law – which caps the cost of insulin, reduces out-of-pocket drug costs, and protects medical innovation, among other reforms to strengthen Medicare and lower drug prices
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema held a tele-town hall with AARP to answer questions from Arizona seniors on the critical prescription drugs reforms she negotiated that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which was recently signed into law. Dr. Len Kirschner, former president of AARP Arizona, also participated in the tele-town hall.
“I worked hard over the past few years with the White House and with my colleagues to pass into law a historic prescription drug agreement that allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. The new Inflation Reduction law reduces costs for Arizona seniors, ensures drug prices cannot rise faster than inflation, saves taxpayer dollars, and targets the high costs caused by market failures, while preserving access to new innovations,” said Sinema.
The Senator heard directly from Arizona seniors – many of whom have previously struggled to pay for their medications and unfortunately have been forced to make impossible choices on which essential medicines they can afford or which they will have to ration.
The Inflation Reduction law includes provisions Sinema personally negotiated – all of which combined save Arizona seniors money, strengthen Medicare, and prevent health insurance premiums from rising for people who buy their health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Sinema went into detail on how Medicare will be able to negotiate prices for medicines seniors get at the pharmacy counter through Medicare Part D and their doctors’ offices through Medicare Part B. The Senator discussed how her work negotiating these provisions ensures seniors living with diabetes will have their insulin costs capped at $35 a month beginning in 2023 – helping more than 60,000 Arizonans on Medicare who need insulin. The law also reduces costs for seniors by capping out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 a year – a provision the Senator personally advocated hard for to provide relief to seniors with catastrophically high drug costs.
The Senator noted that high out-of-pocket costs can be tremendously difficult for Arizona seniors who live on limited incomes. The Inflation Reduction law eases those costs for Arizona seniors, while saving Medicare and Arizona taxpayers money and protecting innovation to ensure Arizonans continue to have access to life-saving medicines, new cures, and better therapies.