As the reforms of the Affordable Care Act continue to take hold, the so-called 'donut hole' coverage gap for the Medicare Part D drug discount program has been steadily closing as federal incentive payments give seniors a financial break when they've hit their drug spending limits. According to new data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday, the U.S. government has paid nearly $2.3 billion through July in incentives to close the coverage gap in 2015. Per beneficiary, that means CMS has paid out an average $915 per person this year tied to the 'donut hole' gap.
[Also: CMS spent $103 billion on Medicare Part D in 2013, $2.5 billion on Nexium]
In total, Part D has paid out $17.7 billion in overall drug discounts in 2015 so far to its more than 2.5 million beneficiaries.
The map below shows how the average gap incentive changes per state. Click on each state for more info. Darker colors denote higher average incentives.
Twitter: @HenryPowderly