UTAH (ABC4) – With President Biden signing the inflation reduction act into law, you might ask how does this affects me?
Mountain America Credit union said it aims to cater to people on fixed incomes and those on Medicare.
But relief won’t be seen for a while.
“For Utahns we’re likely no going to feel immediate impact for this a lot of the provisions in this bill won’t even kick in till the next year or two, even up to 2025,” Jeremy Blair, Vice President of Finance Mountain America Credit Union said.
For some, that’s not soon enough.
“Something needs to be done now. We can’t keep going, my kids can’t afford to buy a home, afford to live,” Utahn Laura Kelly-Gonzalez said.
There are things that will help your wallet, the bill incentivizes the use of clean energy.
“If you have a home that has a very inefficient, very old heating and cooling system that needs a new heat pump, they’re going to pay you back for what you paid for that,” Blair said.
But that means purchasing energy efficient things.
“When buying more that’s stimulative which tends to kind of contribute to inflation. Now over the long run we may see some benefit from that by reducing the need for energy in the system overall but in the short run, things are going to be a little bit, a little bit rocky,” Blair said.
The law will also help Utahns on Medicare with the cost of medication and lowers the cost of healthcare, especially for older Utahns.
“Any movement to try and help come to some type of reduction in pharmaceutical costs I think is welcome,” Tanjie Northrup, deputy commissioner of Utah Insurance Department said.
For now, Utahns still feel inflation.
“It’s hard to go to the grocery store and see the prices and what used to cost me $55 to fill up my tank now costs me $72,” Kelly-Gonzalez said.
But Blair advised people to rely on their own budgeting before relying on the government.
“I would never encourage anybody to wait for lawmakers to take care of things like this for you we have to take action as a community we have to take action as a consumer economy, the best way to do that is look at our budgets and make sure we’re sticking to them,” Blair said.
That means maybe not going out as often, eating at home, taking one less vacation or taking simple steps to stay within budget.
