This year’s unprecedented spike in inflation has been hard for all Coloradans, and increasing costs have placed an especially heavy burden on our state’s senior citizens.

In addition to dealing with rapidly rising grocery and rent prices, older folks in Colorado have been forced to pay exorbitant costs for their essential prescription drugs, prices that have been increasing faster than inflation for decades. Fortunately, Sen. Michael Bennet and his colleagues in Washington had the courage to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which will finally begin to lower drug prices for millions of Coloradans. The senator deserves our thanks for standing up to Big Pharma.

Coloradans have watched for decades as Congress let pharmaceutical companies get away with hiking up the costs of critical medications. These greedy companies have held our seniors hostage with impunity, but now Sen. Bennet and congressional Democrats have put drug company executives on notice by doing the right thing and passing the Inflation Reduction Act.

The bill gives medicare the power to negotiate drug prices, and the Inflation Reduction Act will enact some long overdue penalties on pharmaceutical companies the next time they try to raise drug prices faster than inflation. It’s the accountability older Coloradans have wanted for years, and thanks to Sen. Bennet, our seniors will finally get the protection they deserve. 

Sen. Bennet and his Democratic colleagues delivered on a historic promise with the Inflation Reduction Act. Coloradans will be better off for it, and they’ll certainly remember his vote when they head to the polls in November.