How Much Will Medicare's Part D Donut Hole Cost You?

Medicare Part D began to offer prescription drug coverage in 2006. Before this, seniors had to fend for themselves. The burden for drug costs is high with Americans 65 years and older filling an average of 22.9 prescriptions per year. Depending on whether they fill their medications monthly or every 90 days through a mail order service, that can represent as many as 7 to 23 different medications each year.

Today seniors can pick a Part D plan, pay a monthly premium and make relatively inexpensive copayments or coinsurance payments towards their prescription drug costs if they take generic medications. They will, not surprisingly, pay more if they take brand-name medications.

The problem is that Part D has a donut hole and it is not so tasty.

What is the Donut Hole?

Plain and simple, the donut hole is a coverage gap in your Part D coverage. You have coverage for a while (imagine eating from one side of a donut). Then you lose it for a while (imagine getting to the empty area in the middle). Then you get it back again (imagine getting to the other side of the donut). More specifically, Part D offers coverage up to a certain dollar amount, then drops coverage and then resumes coverage after a certain amount of dollars have been spent.

The donut hole is not based on your medical need. It is based solely on how much money you spend on your prescription medications.

That could be many generic medications or maybe even a single expensive one.

That first tasty bite of donut is the Initial Coverage Limit or the amount you spend before you reach the donut hole. What you pay and what Medicare pays for your drugs will count towards this cost limit. Your monthly premiums do not count towards these costs nor do medications that are not covered on your Part D formulary.

**Costs That Count Towards the Initial Coverage Limit**
Costs You Pay	Costs That Medicare Pays
Your deductible Your copays and coinsurance	The amount Medicare pays for your prescriptions

Even if a medication is listed on your formulary, Part D will not pay for it if you purchase it from another country. Similarly, any out-of-pocket costs you incur from foreign medications will not count toward your Initial Coverage Limit.

After you have spent the Initial Coverage Limit amount, you enter the donut hole.

How Much Will the Donut Hole Cost You?

Before Part D started, you would have been responsible for paying for 100 percent of your drug costs. Now Medicare will pay a certain percentage of the costs and that amount is growing in your favor every year thanks to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. As long as the law remains intact, the donut hole will close by 2020. At that point, you will not pay more than 25 percent for any covered medication, whether it is a generic or a brand-name drug.

**How Much Medicare Pays During the Donut Hole by Year**
Year	Brand Name Drugs	Generic Drugs
2015	55 percent	35 percent
2016	55 percent	42 percent
2017	60 percent	49 percent
2018	65 percent	56 percent
2019	70 percent	63 percent
2020	75 percent	75 percent

You are stuck in the donut hole until you spend a certain dollar amount that is set every year by Medicare. In 2018, that amount is $1,250.

Pharmaceutical companies will give you a 50 percent discount on brand-name medications during the donut hole. Any money spent by your Part D plan does not count towards this amount. Again, your monthly premiums, uncovered medications, or drugs purchased from foreign countries do not count towards the donut hole requirement.

**Costs That Count Towards Your Donut Hole Requirement**
Costs You Pay	Others Costs
Coinsurance for brand-name medications Coinsurance for generic medications	Any amount paid by AIDS Assistance Programs Any amount paid by the Indian Health Service Any amount paid by a pharmaceutical subsidy for your brand-name medications (not generic medications) Any amount paid by a State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program (SNAP)

Once you spend $1,250 in the donut hole, you will be able to move on to the next tasty bite of donut, catastrophic coverage.

Getting Out of the Donut Hole

After you have spent the required donut hole amount, you enter a period of catastrophic coverage where you pay flat-rate copays for your medications until the end of the year. On January 1, the process starts all over again with your new Initial Coverage Limit.

**How Much the Donut Hole Costs You by Year**
Drug Coverage	2017	2018
Initial Coverage Limit	$3,700	$3,750
Donut Hole	$1,250 ($4,950 in total costs for the year)	$1,250 ($5,000 in total costs for the year)
Catastrophic Coverage	You will pay $3.30 for generic drugs. You will $8.25 for brand-name drugs.	You will pay $3.35 for generic drugs. You will pay $8.35 for brand-brand-name.