Medicare Part D - Prescription Drug Plans - Enrollment and Health Care Reform

Once again, it is the open enrollment period for the Medicare prescription drug plan known as Medicare Part D. The enrollment period runs from November 15, 2009 to December 31, 2009. It is time to evaulate your current plan to see if it best meets your needs. Did you purchase enough medications this year so that you reached the "donut hole", that is, the part of the plan that requires you to pay 100% of your costs for medication? If so, can you afford to buy insurance coverage for drug costs within the donut hole? Are you already purchasing insurance to cover the donut hole costs, but your drug expenditures were so few that you probably do not need the coverage? Does you current plan allow you to purchase the medications that you truly need?

While I am on the topic, I would like to comment on the effect on Medicare Part D of the two proposed health care plans. The plan proposed by the House of Representatives (HR 3962)promptly reduces the amount of the donut hole by $500 and then requires gradual phase-out of the donut hole over the next several years. The plan proposed by the Senate (The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act) promptly reduces the donut hole by $500 but proposes no further reductions.

This would suggest that the final bill, if passed, would include some sort of relief, either short-term or long-term, in regards to this infamous donut hole.

Steve