President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law on Tuesday, declaring, “The American people won.”

The IRA has a lot to offer Hawaii, and the ambitious, wide-ranging bill can potentially make a big difference in this small state, particularly in health care, climate and conservation.

Just don’t expect a big reduction in inflation.

The law targets drug prices for Medicare recipients, and maintains subsidies for health insurance under Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It pumps money into cost- and energy-saving benefits for homeowners and electric car drivers. It offers farmers a range of services to improve conservation and lower costs, and funds protections for sensitive oceanic, coastal and forested regions.

Along the way, it would reduce the national deficit by increasing tax collections from corporations and the wealthy.

As for inflation reduction: Hawaii households should avoid getting their hopes up, or expecting immediate overall relief from the IRA. Policy experts predict modest gains, if any.

Nonetheless, seniors on Medicare and workers who qualify for low-cost insurance under the ACA are clear winners here, as well as folks seeking to make their homes or vehicles more energy-efficient.

An estimated 41,000 Hawaii residents will see better access to health care at reduced costs, according to Hawaii’s U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.

Benefits include lower health care costs for nearly 19,000 people in Hawaii, with extended ACA marketplace subsidies. Out-of-pocket insulin costs are capped at $35 per month for more than 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Out-of-pocket drug costs are capped at $2,000 per year for nearly 4,000 Hawaii seniors.

By supporting the transition away from burning oil, the bill is expected to level off energy costs and leave consumers less vulnerable to shifting oil prices.

But it’s no quick fix. By speeding the transition to cleaner sources of energy, climate-warming emissions could be cut by more than 40% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Rooftop solar panels, electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances should become more affordable, with an extended residential clean energy credit that can also be used for battery storage purchases beginning in 2023.

The energy efficiency home improvement credit is being revived with a markedly increased limit, rising from $500 lifetime to $1,200 annually per taxpayer. Hawaii residents can use that for upgrades such as heat pumps and efficient doors and windows, Schatz said.

On a utility-scale level, the IRA restores and extends tax credits for wind power, solar and more, through 2024. After that, a new set of technology-neutral tax credits kick in that give businesses incentives to build facilities, creating employment as a side benefit.

For those thinking about buying an electric car, the IRA extends a tax credit of up to $7,500 for new plug-in electric vehicles (EVs), and a new $4,000 credit for buying used EVs costing $25,000 or less.

Hawaii’s farmers may benefit from a $1-a-gallon tax credit for biomass-based diesel and a $5.3 billion farm debt-relief package, as well as a bounty of conservation programs.

Significantly, climate resilience actions that specifically benefit Native Hawaiians are funded to the tune of $23.5 million allocated by the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, in the Department of the Interior.

The legislation includes $3 billion for the protection of coastal and marine habitats, and $17 million specifically for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary.

Should the IRA accomplish its broader goals, the benefits to Hawaii will go beyond health care and tax rebates, helping to buffer and even prevent some of the worst potential outcomes of climate change.