New Health Care Law Saves Patients Billions in Drug Costs, Medicare Says
In the first four months of this year, more than 416,000 Americans with Medicare saved an average of $724 per person on prescription drug costs after they hit the drug benefit coverage gap ("donut hole"), for a total savings of $301 million, according to data released Thursday by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Under the Affordable Care Act, more than five million seniors and people with disabilities in Medicare saved a total of $3.5 billion on prescription drugs after they hit the donut hole between March 2010 and April 2012.
In addition, more than 12 million people in traditional Medicare received at least one free preventive service at no cost to them in the first four months of this year. That included 856,000 who took advantage of the Annual Wellness Visit provided in the Affordable Care Act.
Last year, more than 26 million people in traditional Medicare received one or more preventive benefits free of charge, according to the CMS.
In 2010, people with Medicare who hit the donut hole received a one-time $250 rebate. In 2011, Medicare recipients in the donut hole began receiving a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs and seven percent coverage of generic drugs. This year, coverage for generic drugs for people in the donut hole rose to 14 percent.
Coverage for both brand name and generic drugs for people in the donut hole will continue to increase until 2020, when the donut hole will no longer exist, the CMS said.
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