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Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit 'Doughnut
Hole' prompts many beneficiaries to end
treatment with Medications
[Oct 17, 2008]
BusinessWeek on Wednesday
examined how many Medicare beneficiaries
enrolled in the prescription drug benefit do
not take necessary medications after they
reach the "doughnut hole" coverage gap, in
which they must cover the full cost of their
treatments.
According to an
analysis released by the
Kaiser Family Foundation in August, 26%
of Medicare beneficiaries who filled any
prescriptions under the prescription drug
benefit, or about 3.4 million, reached the
coverage gap in 2007.
The analysis also found that 15% of Medicare
beneficiaries enrolled in the prescription
drug benefit who were taking drugs for a
variety of chronic diseases did not take
their medications after they reached the
coverage gap.
Tricia Neuman, a Kaiser Family Foundation
vice president and director of the
Medicare Policy Project at the
foundation, said, "High drug costs are a
barrier, but this is the first time we're
seeing it documented so plainly," adding,
"This raises concerns about the consequences
for people with serious chronic conditions."
Carolyn Clancy, director of the
Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality,
said, "There is a growing recognition that
the doughnut hole is impairing people's
access to medications."
Health care policy experts "believe that the
next administration will be under pressure
to address the doughnut hole, and both
candidates have expressed some support for
reforming" the Medicare prescription drug
benefit,
BusinessWeek reports.
Democratic presidential nominee Sen.
Barack Obama (Ill.) has proposed to
allow the federal government to negotiate
directly with pharmaceutical companies for
discounts on medications under the Medicare
prescription drug benefit, and Republican
presidential nominee Sen.
John McCain (Ariz.) has proposed that
higher-income beneficiaries pay higher
premiums under the program (Weintraub,
BusinessWeek, 10/15).
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