Health Care Reforms Eliciting Savings for Medicare Beneficiaries

part of a press release in Tuesday's inbox:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today said that health care reform efforts are eliciting significant out-of-pocket savings for Medicare beneficiaries, pointing to zero growth in 2014 Medicare Part B premiums and deductibles, and more than $8 billion in cumulative savings in the prescription drug coverage gap known as the “donut hole.” 

According to CMS, since the Affordable Care Act provision to close the prescription drug donut hole took effect, more than 7.1 million seniors and people with disabilities who reached the donut hole have saved $8.3 billion on their prescription drugs.  In the first nine months of 2013 nearly 2.8 million people nationwide who reached the donut hole this year have saved $2.3 billion, an average of $834 per beneficiary.  These figures are higher than at this point last year (2.3 million beneficiaries had saved $1.5 billion for an average of $657 per beneficiary). 

The health care law gave those who reached the donut hole in 2010 a one-time $250 check, then began phasing in discounts and coverage for brand-name and generic prescription drugs beginning in 2011.  The Affordable Care Act will provide additional savings each year until the coverage gap is closed in 2020.

for more information:

To read the notices please go to:  http://ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-25595_PI.pdf; http://ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-25668_PI.pdf and http://ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-25591_PI.pdf.  The notices will be published on October 30, 2013.

 To read CMS Principal Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum’s blog Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of- pocket savings, go to:http://blog.cms.gov/. 

To see a state-by-state breakdown of savings in the coverage gap, go to: http://downloads.cms.gov/files/Summary-Chart-2010-September-2013.pdf. 

For more information about the 2014 Medicare Part B premium, and Medicare generally, please go to www.Medicare.gov.