Drug prices are lower now.

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, one of President Biden’s signature achievements, prescription drugs are set to become substantially more affordable for seniors. Yet many Americans seem unaware of just how monumental these changes will be.

Here are six things to look for:

1) Drug price negotiation. For the first time in history, Medicare can now negotiate directly with manufacturers. For the initial round of negotiations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chose 10 drugs that treat common health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Each of these medications costs consumers in the United States three to eight times what people pay in other countries. In 2022, Medicare paid an eye-popping $46.4 billion for them. The impact to consumers is equally staggering. As CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told me, “Some of these drugs are thousands of dollars per year for people who depend on them to live.”

It will take some time for negotiated prices to take effect. Assuming the federal government prevails in the lawsuits filed by pharmaceutical companies, CMS expects lower prices to be in place in 2026.

But that’s only the beginning. Fifteen more drugs will be selected for 2027 and then 20 per year from 2029 and thereafter. The lower prices are projected to save the federal government $100 billion over the next several years. Crucially, this means that the negotiations won’t just benefit people who are on these specific medications; the savings are passed along, indirectly, to everyone on Medicare.

2) A cap on out-of-pocket spending. While the IRA’s price negotiation provision has garnered the lion’s share of media attention, this change will have the most direct consequence for most seniors. In 2025, everyone with Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, called Part D, will pay no more than $2,000 per year out of pocket for medications.

CMS projects that nearly 19 million seniors will save an average of $400 per year. But this number alone does not tell the full story. Brooks-LaSure shared with me that she recently met a woman with leukemia. “She’s spending $12,000, which was 13 percent of her gross income, just for one drug,” she said.

I myself have treated patients who chose not to fill medications because out-of-pocket costs were too high. I’ve met spouses who delayed retirement and caregivers who worked extra jobs just so they could cover their loved one’s prescription costs.

This should not happen. The $2,000 maximum will be a huge step toward health-care affordability.

3) Lower prices for insulin. This provision has already been implemented. The IRA capped the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries, allowing about 4 million seniors with diabetes to save around $761 million per year.

This change has resulted in a welcome “spillover effect,” with at least three major drugmakers voluntarily agreeing to cut their insulin prices for people with private insurance outside of Medicare.

4) Free vaccines. This has also already been implemented: All adult vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now free for everyone with Medicare Part D.

This is expected to save the average senior nearly $70 per year. Some may save substantially more. For example, as Brooks-LaSure explained, the shingles vaccine can cost as much as $300.

5) Inflation penalty for drug manufacturers. A lesser-known but also noteworthy change is that drug companies now have to pay a rebate to Medicare if they increase prices faster than inflation. Those rebates will transfer to consumers, saving as much as $3,500 per dose in the next year, CMS reports.

Brooks-LaSure believes this program will discourage drug companies from rapidly increasing their prices. Like the insulin cap, the spillover effect could benefit people with other types of insurance.

6) Extra help for the most vulnerable. The IRA provides an income-based subsidy for Medicare enrollees. This, Brooks-LaSure said, is the least understood and least utilized aspect of the IRA’s prescription drug reforms.

The reason is because, unlike the other provisions, people need to actively opt into the program to benefit. But for people who depend on Social Security benefits and do not have other sources of income, she told me, the program “can result in significant savings — on average, a couple of hundred dollars a year.”

As many as 3.6 million seniors who are eligible for this program are not yet enrolled. Those who think they might qualify should connect with a caseworker by calling 1-800-Medicare. And everyone not yet signed up for Part D should enroll to take advantage of all the new policy changes.

That 1 in 5 older adults report not taking their prescribed medications because they are too expensive is an indictment of our health-care system. No one should have to choose between paying for medicines and affording food and rent. It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration hasn’t been given more credit for its effort to address this problem, especially because it is already helping seniors in tangible ways.