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By signing the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden is delivering on his promise to build an economy that works for working families, including Black families. The Inflation Reduction Act lowers prescription drug costs, health care costs, and energy costs. It’s the most aggressive action we have taken to confront the climate crisis. It’ll lower the deficit and ask the super wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. And no one making under $400,000 per year will pay a penny more in taxes.

President Biden and Congressional Democrats beat back the special interests to pass this historic legislation that lowers costs for Black Americans and their families, advances environmental justice while building a cleaner future, and grows the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will lower health care costs, including prescription drug costs, and expand health insurance coverage for Black families.

Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Seniors: Americans pay 2-3 times more for their prescription drugs than people in other wealthy countries. High prices contribute to racial and ethnic health inequities.  Among adults 65 and older, Black Medicare beneficiaries were roughly 1.5 times as likely as White beneficiaries to have trouble affording medications, and about 2 times as likely to not fill needed prescriptions due to cost. For example, a recent study of shingles vaccination rates among older Americans showed non-Latino White Americans were over 2 times as likely to have received the shingles vaccine than Black Americans, due in part to difficulty affording the shingles vaccine. The Inflation Reduction Act will help close the gap in access to medication by improving prescription drug coverage and lowering drug prices in Medicare. The law:

Lowering Health Insurance Premiums and Expanding Coverage: Almost 3.9 million Black people were uninsured in 2019 before President Biden took office and over 570,000 Black people fell into the Medicaid “coverage gap” and were locked out of coverage because their state refused to expand Medicaid. Since President Biden took office, the uninsured rate has reached a new historic law: 8% and 5.2 million of Americans have gained health insurance coverage. The Inflation Reduction Act continues the American Rescue Plan’s more generous Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND LOWER ENERGY COSTS

The Inflation Reduction Act takes the most aggressive action on climate and clean energy in American history. The legislation will bring down energy costs for Black families and create thousands of good jobs, all while reducing climate pollution and ensuring that we have a clean, secure future energy supply. It will:

Make Home Efficiency Upgrades More Affordable: The Inflation Reduction Act will make it more affordable for families to purchase energy efficient and electric appliances when they need to replace everyday home appliances and equipment. And, these appliances will save families money on their utility bills in the long run. 

Create Economic Opportunities and Jobs: The Inflation Reduction Act creates economic opportunities and jobs that will reach all Americans as it:

Protect Public Health: The Inflation Reduction Act recognizes that climate change disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color. The law:

Strengthen Resilience to Climate Change: The Inflation Reduction Act bolsters climate resilience and strengthens the Nation’s infrastructure and economy against natural disaster and extreme weather events by:

Lower Costs for Small Businesses: The Inflation Reduction Act includes a number of provisions that will save small business owners money.

MAKE THE TAX CODE FAIRER

President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ 2017 tax law only made an unfair tax system worse. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a critical step forward in making our tax code fairer. It will raise revenue by:

The legislation’s tax reforms won’t just raise revenue to finance critically needed investments to lower costs and combat climate change, they are also an important component of building an economy that rewards work rather than wealth and doesn’t let the rich and powerful get away with playing by a separate set of rules. 

Millions of working families will have better access to the benefits they are entitled to under the tax code and be able to get their questions answered quickly and efficiently, thanks to the Act’s transformational investments in the Internal Revenue Service. And, no family making less than $400,000 per year will see their taxes go up by a single cent.

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