November 2013 | Joel C. Cantor | Opinion: One Healthcare Doughnut Hole Closes, but Another One Opens in NJ
As Americans slog through open enrollment for both the Affordable Care Act marketplace and the Medicare prescription drug benefit (also known as Part D), thoughts naturally go to doughnut holes.
When Congress and the Bush Administration crafted the Medicare Part D benefit, it was politically important that large numbers of seniors quickly get tangible benefits from the new program. Policymakers also wanted to protect beneficiaries with catastrophically high prescription costs. So to keep the program’s hit to the federal budget acceptable, the original Part D program left a gaping coverage gap — widely known as the doughnut hole — after initial benefits for the many ended but before the catastrophic coverage kicked in.