HR3590 Health Care Bill & Government Health Insurance

Don Berwick, M.D., the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, shared a milestone in one of the key steps in the implementation of the new health care reform law.

The $250 rebate checks are the first step towards closing the coverage gap – commonly known as the “donut hole” – in the prescription drug coverage of Medicare. Berwick wrote about how those who hit the coverage gap sometimes change their medication, or skip them altogether, because they cannot afford their medication. Realizing that this is something that may be dangerous and is therefore unacceptable, the Affordable Care Act aims to do away with this gap altogether.

With more than a million rebate checks sent out, it is the hope of the administration that the checks will be able to help the financial burden associated with entering the donut hole – during which time beneficiaries are expected to spend for the full amount of their medication. The checks are sent out, tax-free, without the need to request for them. The checks are mailed once a Medicare beneficiary enters the coverage gap.

Health care reform, however, remains to be a controversial issue. House Republicans opened a week-long focus on their effort to repeal health care reform, on the same day that the announcement regarding the milestone came out. Republicans counter that health care reform will increase, instead of lower, health care costs in the long run, and that it was unconstitutional to force Americans to buy health insurance.