WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Edolphus "Ed" Towns (NY-10) today announced that due to reforms for seniors in the Affordable Care Act nearly 85,000 Medicare beneficiaries in New York, and more than one million Medicare beneficiaries across the country, received checks to begin to close their prescription drug coverage gap – commonly referred to as the “donut hole.”   

Under the health care reform law President Obama signed into law in March, seniors – whose prescription drug costs are so high in 2010 that they fall in the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” – are eligible to receive this one-time tax-free $250 rebate check.  These checks mark only the beginning of serious health care reform for seniors trapped in the “donut hole.” By January 2011, seniors can expect a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs and total elimination of the “donut hole” by 2020.  

“For far too long, flaws in the Medicare program have forced seniors in our state to make some tough choices,” said Rep. Towns.  “This is for many the first example of how the health care reform bill will strengthen Medicare and help seniors—including by extending Medicare’s solvency by more than a decade.”

A Medicare beneficiary falls into the “donut hole” when their prescription drug costs exceed $2,830, at which point the beneficiary is forced to pay 100 percent of their drug costs out-of-pocket until they hit the catastrophic coverage threshold. Now, once a Medicare beneficiary's drug costs reach $2,830, that person will automatically receive the one-time check.

Making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors is one of the countless benefits for seniors included in the Affordable Care Act.  Under the new law, other benefits for seniors include: the strengthening of Medicare by extending its solvency by an additional 12 years, from 2017 to 2029; the expansion of home and community-based services to keep seniors in their home, instead of nursing homes; and reduction of Medicare fraud.

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