From ProgressIowa.org:
DES MOINES, IOWA — As a result of the Affordable Care Act, over 54,000 Iowans on Medicare have saved more than $32 million on prescription drugs since the law was enacted. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also released data today showing that in the first half of 2012, over 10,000 Iowans with Medicare saved a total of $5.7 million on prescription drugs in “donut hole” coverage gap for an average of $566 in savings this year.
“Thousands of Iowans with Medicare have been paying less for prescription drugs thanks to the health care law,” said Janice K. Laue, President of Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans. “Seniors and people with disabilities have already saved more than $32 million. And in 2020, the donut hole will be closed thanks to the Obamacare.”
These savings are automatically applied to prescription drugs that people with Medicare purchase, after they hit the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage gap or “donut hole.” Since the law was enacted, seniors and people with disabilities across the country have had several opportunities to save on prescription drugs:
In 2010, people with Medicare who hit the donut hole received a one-time $250 rebate. These rebates totaled $946 million for 2010;
In 2011, people with Medicare began receiving a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs and 7 percent coverage of generic drugs in the donut hole. Last year, these discounts totaled over $2.3 billion in savings;
This year, Medicare coverage for generic drugs in the coverage gap has risen to 14 percent. For the first six months of the year, people with Medicare have saved $687 million.
Coverage for both brand name and generic drugs in the gap will continue to increase over time until 2020, when the coverage gap will be closed.
For more information on how the Affordable Care Act closes the Medicare drug benefit coverage gap “donut hole,” please visit this site.
For State-by-State information on the amount of savings people with Medicare have received in the donut hole, please visit this site.
What I’m not sure I understand is how the savings is accomplished. Do the drug companies take the hit or is the government paying it. If the government is paying the $32 million, it’s still costing all of us money. If the drug companies are being forced to reduce their prices, we’ll all end up paying for it some other way there, too. It’s just another way of making the workers pay for those who don’t or can’t.
Go look it up Jim. Everyone look and research all of this stuff. It doesn’t take that long but is too long an endeavor to educate here basically. I don’t really see why a citizen commenting is jumped on to prove this and that when Amanda Ragan can tout misinformation about the cost of healthcare and people give her a pass, the press included. But ya let’s zero in and attack a citizen voicing conerns, that’s what Alinskyites do, go look that up too.
Watchdog, prove what you are saying please…Jim
This article is not factual.
ProgressIowa.org is a propaganda organization for the Communist Movement in America.
They are tied to over a 1000 other small and organized groups armed with the goal of spreading Communism.
Readers beware, we are under attack from the leftists that want to destroy America and our way of life so they can live off others.