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Rep. Brown urges change for Medicare plan's gap

Senate hopeful says it's a 'cruel hoax' that people must pay 100 percent of prescription costs for a period of their coverage.

By Jessica Wehrman

Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, joined a Democratic senator on Tuesday to call for a solution to Medicare Part D's so-called "doughnut hole" — a gap in prescription coverage that could hit millions of Americans this year and is already beginning to affect recipients whose drug bills exceed $2,250.

Brown, D-Avon, made his call a week after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an ad praising his opponent, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, for voting for the Medicare prescription drug plan.

A spokesman for DeWine said without the hole, seniors would have to pay more up-front for coverage.

Under the coverage, drug plans will pay 75 percent of the drug costs between $250 and $2,250, but nothing between $2,250 and $5,100.

Recipients have to pay 100 percent of the costs during that gap. Above $5,100, the plan begins paying 95 percent of costs.

Brown and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., took part in a conference call Tuesday organized by Americans United for Change, which opposes the plan. Brown said he has heard from people throughout Ohio who did not know about the gap when they joined the plan.

"Most seniors didn't expect this to happen," he said. "It's a bit of a cruel hoax that they continue to pay the premium and get little to nothing for it but have to keep paying the premium for one month or two months or however long it takes to work their way through the doughnut hole."

He also criticized Republicans for not requiring drug companies to negotiate their prices with the plan.

"I think the public understands more and more that the government is not on their side," he said.

DeWine spokesman Mike Dawson said both the House and Senate bills included the hole because without it seniors would have to pay more up front. The provision was included so that people with drug costs less than $2,250 won't have to pay the extra costs up front, he said.

He also said the government declined to set prices because it did not want to end up with one plan, and that drug companies are forced under Medicare Part D to price their drugs competitively so consumers will choose their plan.

Contact this reporter at (202) 887-8328 or jwehrman@coxnews.com.