Are you covered by Medicare in New York? You pay less for 10 drugs

About 660,000 New Yorkers on Medicare will benefit from reduced prices on 10 commonly prescribed drugs used to treat heart disease, cancer, blood clots and diabetes starting in 2026, federal officials said.

The reason for this is that the Inflation Reduction Act allowed the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over the pricing of Medicare drugs.

Which medicines are being reduced in price?

The newly discounted medications include:

• Eliquis
• Jardiance
• Xarelto
• Januvia
• Farxiga
• Entry
• Enbrel
• Imbruvica
• Stelara
• Insulins Fiasp and NovoLog.

The discounts will range from 38 to 79 percent when the negotiated prices take effect in 2026, the Biden administration said Thursday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that the negotiations will save Medicare $6 billion when the price cuts are implemented in two years.

Older Americans on Medicare will save more than $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs each year because of drug rebates, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement.

“This means that money goes back into the pockets of the more than 660,000 New Yorkers who take these drugs – giving New York patients and retirees an advantage over the profits of big pharmaceutical companies,” he added.