The Inflation Reduction Act also expands Medicare's ability to fight for lower prescription drug prices.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes rules that will help control drug costs by immediately capping the price of insulin for Medicare recipients at $35 a month and the total out-of-pocket prescriptions costs at $2,000 each year.

"They're going to be happy to find out that their insulin prices are going to be capped at $35 a month starting next year," Robin Stelly said, a statewide organizer with the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, a consumer organization that advocates for lowering healthcare costs.

The valley has one of the highest populations of seniors in Ohio.

The Direction Home of Eastern Ohio saved people on Medicare almost $1 million last year by helping them enroll in the Medicare Part D extra help program. Individuals who earn a monthly income of $1,719 or less qualify for assistance.

The Direction Home of Eastern Ohio says the inflation act will expand the number of people that will be eligible by raising the maximum income rates for individuals and married couples.

MEDICARE'S POWERS EXPANDED

About 63 million people are enrolled in Medicare.

Medicare's power to negotiate for lower drug prices is historically expanded under the bill. It's not yet known which medications could be targeted first.

Stelly explains Medicare has substantial bargaining power.

"Usually, when things happen with Medicare, especially regarding prices of anything really that Medicare buys, downward pressure can end up finding itself pushing out into the private market," she said.

Capping insulin prices for those on private insurance was blocked in the Senate, but Stelly believes the inflation act is just one step in lessening the burden of high drug prices.