Medicare Users May Find Drug Coverage Leaves Them With a ‘Gap’

[Joanne98]

By Silvia Cernea

Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Renata Rafferty, a philanthropic adviser in Indian Wells, California, said she started cutting her husband’s pills in half when his Medicare drug coverage reached its limit and his monthly prescription bills shot up to $900.

People enrolled in Medicare’s Part D drug benefit will face higher drug premiums next year and fewer plans offering so-called gap coverage. The Part D program, introduced in 2006, allows Medicare recipients to choose from insurer and company-sponsored drug-coverage plans that are approved by Medicare. Consumers pay a monthly premium, co-payment and deductible.

“In the first year that Part D was offered, there were several plans available which offered gap coverage,” Rafferty, 52, said. “The higher premium was well worth the savings. Last year and this year, no one in our region offered gap coverage.”

Gap coverage kicks in once consumers and their plan have $2,510 of drug costs. Consumers are then responsible for 100 percent of drug costs until they have paid $4,050, including what they paid as part of the $2,510. When that amount has been paid, Medicare’s “catastrophic” coverage assumes most of the cost. Next year, the $2,510 amount set by Medicare’s Part D will increase to $2,700; the $4,050 amount climbs to $4,350.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=a.cUsxy3Aajc&refer=home

You KNEW this was going to happen. Since the frigging thugs wouldn't let us put bargaining in the drug bill. Big drug dealers have ran amuck

[nightrain]

1. yes, last year my mother's meds hit the doughnut hole and

the out of pocket cost ran into the thousands. Horrible situation and was planned by folks like AARP, who are in the insurance business primarily.