Selling Out Seniors - The Part D Donut Hole

It's time to eliminate the donut hole in the Medicare Part D prescription plan and replace Part D with a program that's simple, cost-effective and guaranteed. With the savings from negotiated prices with drug companies, we could eliminate the donut hole entirely without any extra costs to seniors or taxpayers.

Conservative corruption exacerbated the Part D disaster. Part D was written by two Republicans who were literally negotiating their next jobs with the pharmaceutical industry as they worked to create Part D.

They inserted a provision that actually forbid Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices.

It makes no sense to create a law that mandates Americans overpay for anything. Yet that's precisely what conservatives did with prescription drugs under Part D.

By privatizing healthcare, conservatives sold out America's seniors. They handed over billions to corporations and stuck seniors with confusing plan choices, coverage gaps, and billions in out-of-pocket expenses.

Conservative ideology failed here. Conservatives' focus on privatizing healthcare created a program that was costly and confusing, when a simple government solution existed—namely a comprehensive prescription benefit delivered by Medicare.

Nearly 7 million seniors will fall into the Part D donut hole this year, where each will be forced to pay nearly $3,000 out-of pocket for the medications s/he needs.

Many seniors—especially those on fixed incomes—simply can't afford their medications after they fall into the donut hole. The donut hole literally puts their lives at risk.