The health reform law gradually reduces the amount that Medicare Part D enrollees are required to pay for their prescriptions when they reach the coverage gap. In 2010, Part D enrollees with any out-of-pocket spending in the coverage gap will receive a $250 rebate.  Beginning in 2011, Part D enrollees will receive a 50 percent discount on the total cost of their brand-name drugs in the coverage gap, as agreed to by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Over time, Medicare will gradually phase in additional subsidies in the coverage gap for brand-name drugs (beginning in 2013) and generic drugs (beginning in 2011), reducing the beneficiary coinsurance rate in the gap from 100 percent to 25 percent by 2020. In addition, between 2014 and 2019, the law reduces the out-of-pocket amount that qualifies an enrollee for catastrophic coverage, further reducing out-of-pocket costs for those with relatively high prescription drug expenses. In 2020, the level will revert to that which it would have been absent these reductions.

Medicare