S.D. County Medicare Patients Saved $5.3M on Rx Drugs

Last week, CMS officials announced that a provision in the federal health reform law that was designed to narrow the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap -- known as the "doughnut hole" -- provided more than 10,240 San Diego County residents this year with discounts totaling more than $5.3 million. In 2010, the health care overhaul called for Medicare beneficiaries in the doughnut hole to receive one-time, $250 rebates. This year, the rebates were replaced with a 50% discount. Statewide, more than 119,200 Medicare beneficiaries have received prescription drug discounts totaling $60 million.

• "County's Medicare Recipients Save $5.3 Million in Drug Costs" (Lavelle, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/8).