Medicare Part D rule change for next year

A new rule that takes effect in January 2010 may help senior citizens save "hundreds of dollars" in their Medicare plan, the Plain Dealer News reports.


The change was announced last week and is reported to keep Medicare plans from passing bloated drug prices on to consumers in the future, according to the article. This may save some from falling into the undesired financial doughnut hole.


Seniors end up in the hole after their medical plan spends a total of $2,700.

Any additional costs past that mark are then the responsibility of the senior, which can include paying for life-saving prescriptions and pills.


Once implemented, the new rule change stands to pass savings along to senior citizens who use generic versions of brand-name medications, according to the article.


"Next year, when all plans have to use the real price and not the inflated price, a lot of people will no longer hit the doughnut hole like they would under the current system," Paul Precht, a spokesman for the Washington- based Medicare Rights Center, told the news provider.


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