There have been stories, one after the other, of seniors who have Medicare Part D prescription coverage, but are running into terrible financial issues once they hit the threshold where they end up having to pay over $3,200 in self-absorbed prescription charges.
I read a story about a man who is over 90 years old, worked hard, is simply trying to survive, and hit the point where he has to start paying for expensive prescriptions while continuing to keep up with his Part D premiums.
With prescription prices at an all-time high, and many seniors on specialized medication that does not include generics yet, Imagine having to pay $3200 – even divided into a monthly payment (which is not always possible for certain medications), the monthly amount would be about $270 extra dollars per month! That’s quite staggering to a senior on a minimal income. When you think of a senior on Social Security and little else, their income may be an average of $800 per month. After rent, Part D premiums, food and utilities without any frills, that should totally obliterate the $800, even without the advent of the extra $270 for unpaid for medication.
Congress has designed the Part D plan with a whole in it that needs to be filled. It is essential that the next Congress looks at this situation and deals with it in a way that affords our oldest and most vulnerable citizens who have usually worked hard all their lives, supposedly ensuring that their benefits would be waiting for them. Unfortunately, with this donut hole to fill the security they were relying upon is not really there.
We need to take a hard look at a solution to filling the donut hole so seniors can enjoy the dignity of life they deserve
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3 users responded in this post
Medicare Part D works well if the senior is truely informed and has help reducing drug cost. I luckily found a website called MedicareSaver.com that showed me lower cost alternative medications. They even gave me a letter from their pharmacists that I took to my doctor that reduced my drug costs by 2400$ per year. I was on nexium and lipitor. They suggested a change to my doctor which he stated would work well for me. Now I can afford all my medications and avoid the donut hole. If you don’t know if you are going to hit the donut hole you should check out MedicareSaver.com and see what you can do to keep out of the donut hole.
Uma
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Have you been blogging long? Cheap Health Care Insurance – Diseases and Conditions is a great blog, you have a great writing style too. Found this post last Tuesday and i’ve been reading your blog since. I’ve subscribed to your RSS feed and I am ex…
I am a 74 yr old femal with Parkinsons and Macular Degeneration. No one has nade ab effirt to explain the donut hole; I had to look at it myself, and now I need to learn what to do about the terrible expense of it. I need suggestions, as I think one must be very low income to appeal the expense of medication at that point. Do I need to buy medication from Canada, or what will be my course of action? Is there a way to avoid it in my choice of insurance?? Thank you.
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