Under Medicare, people had to pay for their own medication after Medicare paid $2400. Then seniors had to pay the next $3850 from their own money and once they have paid out that amount the Medicare coverage kicked in again. The out of pocket is what’s referred to as the donut hole.
What ended up happening 15% of these people stopped their medication, 5% switched medications, and 1% cut down on their medicine.
This donut hole was made so the government could save some money, but when people stop taking their medicine they tend to get sicker and require even more hospital care. In the long run it seems the donut hole may end up costing more than it’s saving.
Maybe they need to rethink the structure of this medication coverage so people will actually be able to maintain health and stay out of doctors offices and hospitals. Just a thought.
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThen seniors had to pay the next $3850 from their own money and once they have paid out that amount the Medicare coverage kicked in again. The out of pocket is what’s referred to as the donut hole. What ended up happening 15% of these … [...]
[...] – bookmarked by 5 members originally found by jimmydushku on 2008-10-09 Seniors Stop Medicine When Donut Hole Hits http://medcareforum.com/archives/2008/08/23/seniors-stop-medicine-when-donut-hole-hits – [...]