Rolling Along: ACA and Medicaid Beneficiaries Report Record Savings

By Dana Spector, Associate Managing Editor, AHC Media

Medicare and the Affordable Care Act continue to be hot topic items as the presidential election rolls closer, yet last week CMS and HHS announced that these contentious programs have helped millions of people save billions of dollars on prescription drugs.

The agencies said that since 2010, over 10 million Medicare beneficiaries have received discounts over $20 billion on prescription drugs. Each year, the number of Medicare beneficiaries (including those on Medicare Advantage) taking advantage of preventive services continues to rise.

This is great news for preventionists and the community as a whole. Actively engaged consumers can and are staying healthier.

Also mentioned in the report is the eventual closing of the Medicare Part D coverage gap, also called the donut hole. CMS anticipates closing the donut hole by 2020. This ambition is only part of the Obama Administration’s larger aim: finance what works and find new ways to boost the quality of care. The ACA has mechanisms for states, corporations and businesses to implement a higher standard of quality care.

Here is some background from Hospital Peer Review and its report on how some states offer basic health plans through part of the Affordable Care Act, lower income individuals and families.