Aug 21 2012
Reuters: Medication 'Donut Hole' Not Tied To Heart Deaths
U.S. seniors forced to pay full price for their medications while in Medicare's so-called donut hole didn't suffer more heart attacks or deaths as a result, in a new study. During several months spent in the Medicare coverage gap, when the government-run insurance program's Part D component stops covering medications, seniors were no more likely than peers with drug coverage to be hospitalized for, or die from, a heart-related problem (Seaman, 8/17).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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