# What the Cutting Copays Act Does

This bill makes prescription drugs cheaper for low-income seniors on Medicare. Right now, Medicare Part D (the prescription drug program) charges low-income people copays—the amount you pay out of pocket when you pick up a prescription. This bill reduces those copays significantly, and eventually eliminates them entirely for generic drugs.

Here's how it works in practice. Before this bill, low-income Medicare beneficiaries might pay $1 for generic drugs and $3 for brand-name or specialty drugs. Starting in 2026, the bill says low-income seniors won't pay anything for generic drugs at all—zero copay. For other drugs, they'd pay what low-income seniors paid back in 2023, which is typically lower than current amounts. After 2026, those copay amounts would increase slightly each year based on inflation, but they'd still be capped at reasonable levels.

The people who benefit most are seniors with limited incomes who take multiple medications. If you're a low-income Medicare beneficiary taking a generic blood pressure medication, diabetes drug, or cholesterol medicine, you'd save money every time you fill that prescription. Someone taking five generic medications could save hundreds of dollars per year. This matters because high copays sometimes force people to skip doses or not fill prescriptions at all, which can lead to serious health problems.

The bill doesn't change anything for people with higher incomes or those on other types of insurance. It's specifically targeted at making medications more affordable for the most vulnerable seniors—those who qualify for Medicare's low-income assistance programs.

Cutting Copays Act

McGarvey, Morgan

Cutting Copays ActThis bill eliminates cost-sharing for generic drugs for those with the lowest-income under the Medicare prescription drug benefit's Low-Income Subsidy Program beginning in 2026.