Medicare D patients now enjoying the "Hole" while Pharma companies enjoying the profits

One of the interesting features of Medicare Part D is the so called dough-nut hole, the time when the savings go away and the patients pay for the entire cost of meds until another threshold of medicine cost is reached and Medicare kicks in again covering most of the cost. The profit boost to pharmaceutical companies comes from the fact that previously those so called dual-eligible patients ( those who were eligible for both Medicade and Medicare) are now receiving their drugs solely from the Part D program. Under the states' administration of the medicaid program they were able to and did negotiate lower prices on the drugs paid for under that program but the federal government is not allowed to do that under the rules of part D. This is all explained with numbers in a recent NYT article on the subject.

This windfall is, of course, occuring while CMS has enacted more cuts in professional fees for medical services performed for Medicare recepients.Pay less to the docs ,more to the drug companies, can you guess who really knows how to lobby.