doughnut hole (gap in Medicare drug coverage)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The Medicare "doughnut hole" is in the news these days...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400957.html

I see Congressional debate about "the hole in the doughnut/donut" from
2001 and "the doughnut/donut hole" from 2002.


www.senate.gov/~finance/032201tntest.pdf
"Improving Prescription Drug Coverage: Opportunities and Challenges
for Reform", Hearing on Prescription Drugs and Medicare Financing,
Senate Finance Committee, Mar. 22, 2001
The "Hole in the Donut": Many proposals would cover expenses up to a
specified amount, but leave a gap in coverage between the benefit
limit and the level of drug expenditures required to qualify for
catastrophic protection.

CongressDaily, Mar. 22, 2001 (Factiva)
Another Republican acknowledged today that the $153 billion President
Bush set aside in his budget for a Medicare prescription drug benefit
would not be enough. "Everybody knows that figure is gone," Energy and
Commerce Chairman Tauzin told reporters at a briefing. The number, he
said, was set before CBO re-estimated last year's House bill, which he
said is "already over $200 billion and climbing." At the same time,
Tauzin said he wants to build on the proposal the House passed last
year. "Everybody agrees there's a problem with the hole in that
doughnut," he said, referring to the several-thousand dollar gap
between the drug expenses the bill would cover initially and the
"catastrophic stop loss" amount above which insurance would pay the
full cost.

Gannett News Service, June 9, 2002 (Factiva)
The term "doughnut hole" isn't new to the Medicare prescription drug
debate, but it is about to get a lot more attention. As its name
implies, the doughnut hole offers air where cake should be. In this
context, the missing ingredient is money for Medicare beneficiaries to
help pay for drugs their doctors prescribe.

Boston Globe, June 13, 2002, p. E4 (Nexis)
Worse, seniors under the GOP bill would have to cover costs between
$2,000 and $5,600 - a wide gap that Democrats describe as seniors
getting "more doughnut holes than doughnut."

St. Petersburg Times, June 18, 2002 p. 3A (Nexis)
The most controversial part of the Republican plan is a gap in the
federal coverage of drug costs. Critics refer to the gap as the
"doughnut hole," and five seniors groups said they would hand out
doughnuts in the Capitol today to demonstrate their opposition.

CongressDaily, June 12, 2003 (Factiva)
"We shouldn't call it the doughnut. Nobody at home knows what the
doughnut is. They think we're having coffee." - Senate Finance member
Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., speaking Tuesday on legislators' shorthand
for the coverage "gap" in the Medicare drug benefit proposed by
Finance Chairman Grassley and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont. The
gap is often referred to as the "doughnut hole" because the benefit
provides coverage for expenses at the top and bottom of the spending
spectrum, but not the middle.


--Ben Zimmer

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