Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than 6.6 million people with Medicare have saved more than $7 billion on prescription drugs. That’s an average of $1,061 per beneficiary.

These savings are thanks to the provision in the Affordable Care Act that closes the gap in Medicare Part D coverage, often referred to as the doughnut hole, over time. Under Medicare Part D, beneficiaries pay part of the cost of their prescriptions until they reach a certain cost limit. Then, they enter the coverage gap. Before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, when beneficiaries reached this gap, they were responsible for the full cost of prescriptions until they hit another cost limit and catastrophic coverage began. In this coverage gap, beneficiaries had to shoulder the entire cost of their prescriptions, which made important medications unaffordable for many. The Affordable Care Act is changing this by phasing in discounts for brand name and generic prescription drugs while beneficiaries are in the coverage gap. By 2020, the discounts will effectively close this gap.