Here’s another way you’re getting money from the government. If you’re a senior and sit in the infamous donut hole or the gap in the Medicare prescription drug coverage, then you can expect to get a $250 check from Uncle Sam.
This is an effort to finally plug the gap where seniors have to pay out of pocket once they go past the initial coverage limit just before they reach the catastrophic coverage threshold.
80,000 people are expected to get checks once the first ones get mailed on June 10.
“We think our members will see these checks as a good faith down payment on what they’ve been looking for so long: closing this coverage gap,” said Cheryl Matheis, AARP’s senior vice president said.
In a nutshell, here’s how the donut hole works:
In addition to a $310 deductible, Medicare beneficiaries pay 25% of their drug costs until the total reaches $2,830 for the year. Then, they fall into a coverage gap. At that point, enrollees must pay all costs out of pocket until their annual expenses exceed $6,440. After that, seniors pay 5% of drug costs for the rest of the year.
Source: CNN
