Linda Essenmacher pulled money from her savings in 2024 to help cover an expensive medication that treats intense back pain caused by an inflammatory disease. Even with Medicare, the drug costs the 80-year-old Dover, Delaware, resident more than $2,000 each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2025, there was no need to resort to savings: a new annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries had kicked in. By the end of January, Essenmacher had hit the $2,000 limit for 2025 and would pay nothing for her medication for the rest of the year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without this ceiling, \u201cthere is no way I could have afforded it,\u201d Essenmacher says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AARP lobbied for that cap on drug costs to be included in a law that passed in 2022. It\u2019s just one of many ways AARP has worked to lower prescription drug prices<\/a> for older adults who often need medications<\/a> to stay healthy, comfortable and pain-free.<\/p>\n More on Medicare Drug Savings\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n For a deeper analysis of how much money Medicare enrollees will save on the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation,\u00a0read this new report<\/a>\u00a0from AARP’s Public Policy Institute.<\/p>\n When prescription drugs skyrocket in price, older adults face dire consequences. They may be forced to choose between paying for pills or electric bills. Or they may be tempted to stretch out their supply rather than taking dosages as prescribed. A 2025 AARP survey<\/a> found that 82 percent of adults 50 and older report taking prescription drugs regularly and almost 60 percent are concerned about their ability to afford prescription drugs in the next few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Our advocacy on this issue<\/a> dates back decades. We supported the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which created Medicare Part D, an optional coverage that helps pay for brand-name and generic drugs that you pick up at a pharmacy. Our continued efforts are bearing fruit: Part D enrollees are expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs next year because of newly negotiated prices between Medicare<\/a> and pharmaceutical companies. Coupled with a $35 cap on insulin, no-cost shingles and flu vaccines, and other measures, older adults are seeing substantial savings.<\/p>\n Here are five ways AARP has fought to make lower drug prices a top priority.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Making Medicare drug price negotiation a reality<\/p>\n \u00a0The 2003 law that created Medicare Part D included language that barred Medicare from negotiating prices with drug manufacturers. That all changed with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n