doughnut hole (gap in Medicare drug coverage)

[Beverly Flanigan]

Do you mean radius or diameter?

At 10:29 AM 9/28/2006, you wrote:
>I don't know how old or how widely applied it is, but there's another use
>of "doughnut" that I've been noticing for the past several
>years:  Demographers, election analysts, et al. refer to the band of
>suburbs and small cities (largely white, affluent, and politically
>rightish) circling metropolitan Atlanta as "the doughnut."  The radius of
>the "hole" is perhaps 8 or 10 miles, of the doughnut itself maybe 30 or 40
>miles.
>
>Where would our langauge and our culture be without doughnuts!
>
>--Charlie
>_____________________________________
>
>
>---- Original message ----
> >Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:56:11 -0400
> >From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> >Subject: doughnut hole (gap in Medicare drug coverage)
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >
> >The Medicare "doughnut hole" is in the news these days...
> >
> >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092
> 400957.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
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org