Did Biden ever get drug costs lowered
Executive summary
Yes — the Biden administration enacted and began implementing laws and policies that lower prescription drug costs for many Americans, particularly people with Medicare, chiefly through the Inflation Reduction Act’s negotiation authority, an inflation rebate program and out-of-pocket caps and protections that are phasing in over 2024–2026 [1] [2] [3]. Those changes yield concrete savings for Medicare beneficiaries now and larger negotiated price reductions that take effect in 2026, though the benefits are targeted, gradual and contested [4] [5] [6].
1. The law that made the difference: the Inflation Reduction Act and executive actions
The core reason drug costs fell for many under President Biden is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, signed by Biden and reinforced with executive orders directing agencies to implement broader drug-price reforms; the IRA created three major levers — Medicare drug-price negotiation, an inflation-linked rebate to Medicare when manufacturers raise prices faster than inflation, and caps and benefit changes for Medicare Part D enrollees — which the administration has been implementing since 2023 [1] [2] [7].
2. What Medicare beneficiaries are already seeing: rebates, free vaccines and caps
Administration reporting and agency announcements show measurable, ongoing savings for people on Medicare: rebates under the IRA’s Medicare Inflation Rebate Program reduced costs on over 120 drugs since April 2023 and specific quarterly lists covered dozens of drugs yielding immediate savings for hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries; the IRA also made ACIP-recommended vaccines free for Medicare Part D enrollees (over 10 million received free vaccines in 2023) and began capping catastrophic-phase coinsurance, producing out‑of‑pocket relief in 2024 [2] [8] [3].
3. Negotiation wins announced in 2024 — big cuts, slower arrival
In August 2024 the administration announced negotiated price reductions for the first set of 10 high-cost Medicare drugs — reductions public reporting framed as steep (e.g., PBS reported 79% to 38% range for some drugs) — but those negotiated prices are scheduled to take effect in 2026, so headline reductions were real but delayed and primarily affect Medicare’s costs and Medicare beneficiaries once implemented [3] [4] [9] [5].
4. Not everyone benefits equally; scope and political vulnerability
These reforms primarily affect Medicare beneficiaries and drugs selected under annual negotiation windows, so the majority of Americans under commercial insurance or paying cash may not see the same direct price cuts; critics and independent analysts caution that caps like the $2,000 out‑of‑pocket limit (scheduled for full effect in 2025) shift costs to taxpayers and that broader price declines across the whole drug market are uneven [10] [11]. The measures are politically contested and some related pilots and initiatives were reversed or uncertain under subsequent policies, underscoring that parts of the program are fragile and subject to administrative change [12] [13].
5. Bottom line: effective for Medicare, partial for the rest of America
Factually, the Biden administration “got drug costs lowered” in a demonstrable way for people with Medicare — through inflation rebates, free vaccines, reduced coinsurance in catastrophic coverage, and negotiated prices for selected drugs that will take effect in 2026 — and these actions produced identifiable savings reported by CMS and the White House [2] [3] [14]. At the same time, the policy’s reach is limited: the most consequential savings flow to Medicare enrollees and to the federal budget, many Americans outside Medicare have not experienced comparable price drops, and some elements remain phased-in or politically reversible, a reality highlighted by both administration materials and outside commentators [6] [11] [12].