Question
Has the candidate indicated that he supports strengthening prescription drug coverage for seniors by closing the coverage gap in Medicare Part D known as the "doughnut hole"?
The Issue
For nearly 40 years, Medicare, America’s health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities, did not cover prescription drugs. In 2003, a prescription drug benefit known as Part D was added to Medicare. Unlike most forms of insurance, however, the Medicare drug program has a hole in its middle. This gap in coverage, known as the “doughnut hole,” means that once seniors’ drug costs exceed a certain amount ($2,510 in 2008), they have no prescription drug coverage until their costs reach a much higher (“catastrophic”) threshold for the year ($5,726 in 2008). Each year, this gap in coverage may go on for many months—even though beneficiaries pay premiums for the entire year. And each year, prescription drug prices go up.
Moreover, for seniors with high drug costs, the situation gets tougher each year because the size of the doughnut hole grows over time. In fact, because of the way the Medicare drug bill was written, the doughnut hole will nearly double in the coming years, growing from $3,216 today to $6,000 in 2016.23 Because of this flaw in the Medicare drug program, sicker seniors who have high drug costs face a large gap in their coverage when they can least afford to pay for their drugs.
The Positions
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Senator McCain: Senator McCain has not indicated support for closing the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D. He opposed the creation of a drug benefit for all seniors,24 and he believes that the current program is too generous.25 |
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Senator Obama: Senator Obama supports closing the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D so that seniors will have continuous prescription drug coverage for the whole year. |
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Footnotes
23 Jack Hoadley, Jennifer Thompson, Elizabeth Hargrave, Katie Merrell, Juliette Cubanski, and Tricia Neuman, Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: The Coverage Gap (Washington: Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2007).
24 Senator John McCain (AZ); H.R. 1 Conference Report, 108th Congress, 1st Session, available online at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00459.
25 John McCain, Presidential Candidate Forum: John McCain (Washington: Kaiser Family Foundation, October 31, 2007), available online at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/uploaded_files/103107_presforum_mccain_transcript.pdf. |
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