Washington, D.C. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today highlighted the more than $26 million saved by more than 48,500 Arizonans to date on prescription drug costs through Affordable Care Act (ACA) reforms to the Medicare Part D benefit. The figures represent an average savings of more than $539 per beneficiary this year.
According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, approximately 2.65 million Americans have so far saved $1.5 billion nationwide since the ACA began closing the Part D “donut hole” that charges seniors full price for medicine falling within a certain price range. A state-by-state breakdown of who has benefited in each state and how much they have saved is available at Rep. Grijalva’s Web site at http://1.usa.gov/uxteA0.
CMS also announced today that approximately 24.2 million Medicare enrollees have received at least one free preventive service this year, including 1.9 million beneficiaries who have conducted a free Annual Wellness Visit. The ACA eliminated patient co-pays for one free preventive checkup each year. For more information about the preventive care benefit, visit http://www.healthcare.gov/law/features/rights/preventive-care/index.html.
“This is exactly the kind of help Americans needed when we passed the Affordable Care Act, and it’s the kind of help they still need today,” Grijalva said. “Helping people get healthier isn’t about politics or ideology. It’s about getting rid of financial barriers to wellness and reducing the likelihood of catastrophic illnesses going undiagnosed. These are simple, straightforward reforms that have already helped millions of people, and I look forward to millions more taking advantage of the new opportunities health reform creates.”
For more information about how the Affordable Care Act closes the donut hole over time, go to http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11493.pdf. For state-by-state information on the number of people benefiting from discounts in the donut hole in 2011, go to https://www.cms.gov/Plan-Payment/. For state-by-state information on utilization of free preventive services and the Annual Wellness Visit, go to http://www.cms.gov/NewMedia/02_preventive.asp.