Medicare Mailing Checks to Pay for Drugs

Medicare will begin mailing out tens of thousands of $250 checks today to senior citizens throughout the country as part of the Obama administration’s recently enacted health reform law.

Under the recently enacted law, seniors who fall within the ‘donut hole’ coverage gap in 2010 will receive a tax-free $250 rebate check from the government. The donut hole coverage gap is the period of the Medicare prescription drug benefit plan where the beneficiary pays 100 percent of the cost of drugs until they hit a threshold of $2,830. Medicare recipients will automatically receive the check for $250 once their drug costs hit the $2,830 mark.

“Prescription drugs cost many people thousands of dollars each year,” says U.S. Rep. Ciro D. Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. “These checks are the first step in reducing prescription drug costs for seniors and closing the donut hole entirely.”

By January 2011, seniors in the donut hole will receive a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs. By 2020, the donut hole should be completely closed, Rodriguez says.

Read more: Medicare to mail out $250 to seniors to help defray drug costs - San Antonio Business Journal