Affordable Care Act and Part D
Kelly Ayers
HCS/531
Monday 2 July 2012
Dr. Russell Arenz

As the population ages, people want the security of knowing that they have health care coverage. At age 65, people have the opportunity to be covered by Medicare. Medicare has four parts to it; part A which is the hospital insurance, part B which is the medical insurance, part C is Medicare Advantage plan which offers extra coverage such as vision, hearing, dental and/or wellness programs, and part D is prescription drug coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act survived a vote of the Supreme Court justices and changes will be implemented within the next few years. As people age and the number of people entering the golden years is growing, these people will be needing and using more health care than past generations. This paper will focus on the changes that will occur to close the gap in Medicare’s prescription drug “donut hole.” The “Donut Hole” of the prescription drug plan is the amount where the senior had to pay the price for the prescription until it reached the high end and Medicare took over again. The gap for prescriptions was reached at $2830 and after the cost of $6440 did Medicare coverage kick back in. “Once the total drug costs (what the plan paid and what the enrollee paid) reached $2830, enrouees went into the donut hole, where they paid the total cost of their drugs. This no-coverage feature continued until total drug costs reached $6440” (Kaplan, 2011, p. 25). The result was that enrolling in the drug plan was voluntary. Prior to any reform beginning, Medicare enrollees wanted some changes made to promote more preventive and wellness health programs. A proposal was made to President Bush’s administration for education, referrals, and screenings (Kaplan, 2011). Prescription drugs are the third leading expense in a