Thousands of seniors in Minnesota who rely on Medicare health coverage are benefiting from one portion of the Inflation Reduction Act that might be having more of an impact than any other: Prescription drug prices for seniors are coming down.

“I call the Inflation Reduction Act our ‘lower-cost prescription drug law’ because that’s really one of the main things that it does,” says Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

He was in St. Paul with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Monday to tout the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on prescription drug prices.

“That is going to save American seniors $1.5 billion dollars and he’s just gotten started,” Klobuchar said of Becerra’s negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, HHS can negotiate prices on 10 of the most commonly used drugs in the Medicare system. The number of drugs that can be negotiated will increase each year.

Under the act, insulin is capped at $35 per month; certain vaccines like RSV and shingles are now provided for free under Medicare Part D and drug companies that raise their prices faster than inflation must pay rebates to Medicare. Also, starting Jan. 1, all Medicare Part D enrollees will have out-of-pocket costs capped at $2,000.

Many economists say the Inflation Reduction Act isn’t primarily responsible for the reduction in inflation from 9.1% in July of 2022 to 2.9% today. They attribute much of the drop to lower energy prices, improving supply chains and higher interest rates.