An event to help seniors with the daunting task of Medicare open enrollment took place Tuesday at the Theodore Young Community Center in White Plains.

Some of the highlights that health officials will touch on include a $35 monthly co-pay cap on insulin, free shingles and other essential vaccines, $2,000 out-of-pocket caps on prescriptions beginning in 2025 and much more.

It's all part of a nationwide "Medicare is Better Than Ever" initiative taking place to educate seniors about new cost-saving health care benefits. The new benefits are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is a package passed by Congress and signed by the president last summer.

Officials were also in Orange County hosting a similar event. Sen. James Skoufis was there to discuss the importance of helping seniors with health care.

"Seniors here in Orange County are struggling to make ends meet," says Skoufis. "They are struiggling to pay their property taxes, to put food in the table in some cases and in some cases, they're literally splitting their pills to make their prescriptions go long and so the benefits that are new here and are being offered are a lifeline to thousands and thousands."

The 2024 Medicare enrollment period runs from now through Dec. 7.