AARP Joins White House’s Inflation Reduction Act Celebration

En español | AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins traveled to the White House on Tuesday to celebrate the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, which will lower the cost of prescription drugs for millions of Americans through provisions that we’ve spent decades fighting for.

“For years, so many of us have been trying to fix this problem,” President Joe Biden said at the Tuesday event, referring to high drug prices. “But for years, Big Pharma blocked Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices.”

The new AARP-backed law, which Biden signed last month, will finally allow Medicare to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers starting next year. It will also allow the government to penalize drug companies that raise certain prescription prices faster than the rate of inflation. And out-of-pocket caps on Medicare Part D prescriptions will take effect starting in 2025.

AARP has led the charge to lower drug prices, ramping up pressure on lawmakers in recent months as the bill advanced through Congress. AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for the bill, and we sent petitions signed by more than 4 million Americans to lawmakers — in addition to thousands of calls and emails from AARP activists — urging them to take action.

Since its passage, we’ve launched a new ad campaign spreading awareness of the new law and our fight to get it over the finish line. “This is a historic victory for consumers,” Jenkins wrote in a letter to AARP members earlier this month. “Drug companies have for decades raked in record profits by charging Americans three times what people in other countries pay for the same medications. Now that will begin to change.”

Learn more about our fight to lower prescription drug prices at aarp.org/fiercedefender.