The new 2015 Medicare health and drug plans. will be announced between today and October 1. 2014. These are the plans that about half of us seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries need to enroll or re-enroll in between October 15, 2015 and December 7, 2014. (The other half of us have to enroll when former employers tell us to or can enroll and re-enroll every month if we want to depending on various status.)
It looks like there will not be a lot different in the rules for Part D prescription drug plans in 2014. In 2015, the few United States seniors affected by the infamous "donut hole" will receive a 55% discount on brand-name drug retail prices, up from 52.5% in 2014. This affects very few of us but take it while you can get it. By about 2020, that discount will increase to 75% on brand-name drugs (but of course the price will go up both on the drugs and on everyone's else's premiums). The current discount on generic drugs is not as high but typically they are not as expensive. And by 2020, it will not matter which types of drugs are involved: beneficiaries will pay 25% of the retail price, the same amount they pay on average before reaching the hole.
Here's the good news (and it's not new news; it's been true all along). Nationwide, fewer than one in 10 seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries fall into the donut hole. Obviously if you are one of the 10 that means you have some serious or chronic illness and this information is of little comfort to you. But, in general. all the publicity about the donut hole is overblown. In particular, no one receiving Social Security Extra Help (about 20% of you) is affected by the donut hole.
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