Doughnut Hole is Not So Sweet

As recently reported here, in a study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 26% of Medicare beneficiaries who filed using the prescription drug benefit "reached the coverage gap in 2007." Of these individuals, 15% were taking medication for chronic diseases, and quite taking meds during the gap. As Carloyn Clancy from Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, warns:

"High drug costs are a barrier, but this is the first time we're seeing it documented so plainly. This raises concerns about the consequences for people with serious chronic conditions. There is a growing recognition that the doughnut hole is impairing people's access to medications."

As is further mentioned in the article, this will be an issue that the next administration will have to address. As seen in the post from this past Friday, it seems that the candidates are already aware of the problems, and have plans to address this troubling statistic.