Medicare's drug coverage gap shrinks

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WASHINGTON (AP) —

The "doughnut hole," an anxiety-inducing catch in an otherwise popular benefit, will shrink about 40 percent for those unlucky enough to land in it, according to new Medicare figures provided in response to a request from The Associated Press.

The average beneficiary who falls into the coverage gap would have spent $1,504 this year on prescriptions. But thanks to discounts and other provisions in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, that cost fell to $901, according to Medicare's Office of the Actuary, which handles economic estimates.

A 50 percent discount that the law secured from pharmaceutical companies on brand name drugs yielded an average savings of $581. Medicare also picked up more of the cost of generic drugs, saving an additional $22.

Under Obama's health care law, the gap will be gradually phased down by 2020.

This year, the law provides a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs and 7 percent break on generics. Next year the discount on generics rises to 14 percent. When the changes are fully phased in, beneficiaries will still be responsible for their annual deductible and 25 percent of the cost of their medications until they reach catastrophic coverage.


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[Bluenorthwest]

1. And yet no one can rationalize the existance of a gap in coverage

for medicines for our elders. The gap is criminal, and definitive of the ethics of all who designed it. When folks charge granny for life saving meds in a 'gap' and then they tell me they are 'sanctified Christians' I laugh in their amoral faces.

[Gin]

2. I totaly agree....the "gap" is criminal and should have been closed

immediately in the health insurance bill.

[NV Whino]

3. But since the cost of drugs has risen

You're going to reach that donut hole a lot faster. My copay for tier 1 generics has gone from $5 to $9. Tier 2 drugs (including a generic) went from $20 to $45.

What frosts me, aside from the gap itself, is that it went into to affect almost immediately, yet it is going to take 20 years to "phase it out."

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5. and resisting legislation to allow folks to get cheaper meds

. . . from Canada. where they have price controls on Pharma.

"One congressional estimate says Americans could save $50 billion over 10 years if the nation permitted U.S.-manufactured drugs to be reimported from Canada and other nations where price controls on pharmaceuticals hold down costs."
http://www.freep.com/article/20090802/NEWS06/308020003/0/MULTI/Cheaper-meds-border-away?odyssey=nav|head

[Hoyt]

4. Gap is clearly a problem, but getting better. Until 2006, there was no prescription drug coverage.

Prior to 2006 millions of seniors went without or cut pills into parts. In any event, Obama should get some credit for the improvements.

In about 3 years, I'll be glad to have this coverage, even with a gap.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Why is the gap still there? Fund healthcare not wars