Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Falling into Medicare Part D's doughnut hole

Good editorial in the Oct. 6 N.Y. Times about the Part D Medicare pharmaceutical benefit. It omits one fact and misleadingly states another.1. For some beneficiaries, the effect of the doughnut hole -- which leaves seniors paying 100% of their drug costs between $2250 and $5100 -- will be higher out-of-pocket costs after Part D became effective than before. For some, perhaps many or even most,