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Seniors Bemoan "Donut Day"

Medicare Drug Coverage Stops for Millions

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 22, 2006

• Tablet Splitting: A Risky Practice • FDA Moves on Drug Counterfeiting • Bill Banning Drug "Pay-For-Delay" Gets Hearing • Drug Costs Rise Less Quickly, Study Finds • Coping With Costly Prescriptions • Proposed Settlement Could Lower Prescription Drug Prices • FDA: Baltimore Pharmacies Selling Expired and Counterfeit Drugs • Some Drug Prices Surging 100 Percent Or More • Kmart, Schnucks Expand Generic Rx Discounts • Coming Soon: Generic Drugs from China • Safeway Introduces Generic Drug Discounts • Medicaid Cuts 'Devastating,' Pharmacies Warn • Kroger Expands Its Generic Drug Discount Program • Supermarkets Launch Generic Drug Discount Programs • Drug Prices Can Vary Widely, Survey Finds • Wal-Mart Adds More Generic Drugs To Discount Plan • FDA Finds Problems with Online Drugs • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Program • Walgreens.com's Pharmacy Gets Top Rating • Popular Blood Pressure Drug Goes Generic • Wal-Mart Expands Generic Drug Plan • Consumers Get Little Drug Price Information From Their Doctors • Florida Pharmacy Offers Generics Online for $3.79 • Wal-Mart Adds 12 More States To $4 Drug Program • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Drug Program To 14 More States • Report: Shopping Around Beats Medicare Drug Prices • Drugs by Mail: Money Saver or Rx for Disaster? • Wal-Mart Expands Its Generic Drug Discounts • Feds Give Up on Canadian Drug Crackdown • Target Matches Wal-Mart's $4 Generic Rx Price • Congress OKs Drug Shopping Trips To Canada • Seniors Bemoan "Donut Day" • Wal-Mart Cuts Generic Rx Prices To $4 In Florida • AARP: Drug Prices Still Rising • Illinois Sues 48 Drug Companies • Pharmacy Benefit Managers Scrutinized • Survey Shows Value of Comparison Shopping

Today is "Donut Hole Day," when the average Medicare enrollee falls into Medicare Part D's donut hole, the gap in coverage for those beneficiaries with annual drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100.

As a result, millions of seniors caught in the donut hole will go to the pharmacy this fall and be forced to pay thousands of dollars for prescriptions.

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee released a report this week saying that about 7 million Americans in stand-alone prescription drug plans are at risk of falling into the donut hole. This is in addition to the nearly 6 million Americans with Medicare Advantage plans, most of which are also at risk of falling into the donut hole.

Their report estimated that 88 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries with stand-alone coverage ended up with plans that contained a gap.

The day did not go unnoticed. Seniors groups, consumer organizations and Democrats issued statements and held rallies. Wal-Mart unveiled a plan to cut the price of generic drugs to $4 at its pharmacies in the Tampa area, expanding by January to all of Florida.

Seniors have complained about the provision since the new drug program was enacted but the complaints are getting louder now that millions of Americans find themselves suddenly with no drug coverage.

"This costly, confusing and corrupt prescription drug plan written by and for the pharmaceutical and insurance companies exemplifies the conservative ideology of governance -- outsource essential government services to corporate cronies and pass the bill on to the taxpayers," said Roger Hickey of the Campaign for America's Future.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), joined Hickey in a conference call with reporters urging Congress to fix the harmful coverage gap.

"Seniors in Michigan and around the country are stunned to learn they are falling into Medicare's donut hole -- a gap in coverage that will have them scrambling to pay thousands of dollars for prescriptions they thought would be covered," said Stabenow.

"It didn't have to be this way, but unfortunately, this Medicare prescription drug program was created for the drug companies and not for seniors."

The Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) held events through the country to highlight the day and rally seniors to ask Congress to eliminate the donut hole.

Many seniors and persons with disabilities were unaware of the donut hole when they enrolled in the new Part D plans, said Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance. Even if they were aware, it would have cost nearly $40 more per month for a plan without a coverage gap.

Since the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan was passed in 2003, there have been three amendments introduced in the House of Representatives and one amendment introduced in the Senate authorizing Medicare to use its bulk purchasing power to negotiate the price of drugs, thereby reducing the cost of the program and providing Congress with the funds to fill in the gap in coverage. All four amendments have been rejected along partisan lines.

"Because the drug companies' interests were put ahead of seniors, taxpayers are paying a Cadillac price for a Pinto prescription drug benefit for seniors. Part D must be fixed to provide a real prescription drug benefit that puts seniors first," said Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for Americans United.

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