Medicare ‘Donut Hole’ Forces Some Patients To Forgo Drugs
About 15% of the 3.4 million Medicare drug plan beneficiaries who reached the plan's coverage gap, or "donut hole," in 2007 stopped drug treatments, according to a new study. The donut hole takes effect when total drug spending for an individual beneficiary reaches $2,400 for a single year and continues until total out-of-pocket spending reaches $3,850.
- "Medicare Drug Coverage Gap Leads Some Elderly Patients To Forgo Medicine" (AP/Los Angeles Times, 8/22).