“Families, seniors and small businesses in Nevada and across the country are reaping the benefits of health insurance reform. Prescription drug costs for seniors are falling as the Medicare ‘donut hole’ closes, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, and business owners are taking advantage of tax breaks. Just last week, a conservative judge appointed by President Reagan ruled that this legislation is Constitutional, and I am confident the high court will do the same.”

Senator Jon Kyl: “So it’s simply incorrect to say that millions of seniors would be directly affected by the Ryan budget with respect to their Medicare coverage.”  [Kyl Floor Speech, 4/14/11]

CHASER

New Report: GOP Budget Would Immediately Repeal ‘Donut Hole’ Fix, Costing Seniors An Additional $2.2 Billion in Rx Drug Costs Just Next Year.

… Seems like another #notafactualstatement from Senator Kyl

New State-By-State Report Outlines Devastating Immediate Impact On Nation’s Seniors—Next Year Alone, Seniors Currently In Donut Hole Would Pay An Additional $2.2 Billion For Prescription Drugs

Senators: ‘Extreme GOP Budget Proposal Would Start Hurting Seniors From Day One’

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Democrats released a new report outlining how the House Republicans’ FY2012 budget proposal will begin harming seniors immediately if passed into law.  This contradicts GOP claims that the budget does not affect Medicare for anyone 55 or older.

If the budget—drafted by Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI)—is enacted into law, it will cost the average senior who currently falls into the “donut hole” approximately $11,794 between 2012 and 2020, according to a report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.  In all, Ryan’s budget will cost seniors an estimated $44 billion in prescription drug costs over that period, including $2.2 billion next year alone.  In 2010, approximately 3.7 million seniors fell into the “donut hole.”

“If Congressman Ryan’s budget plan were to be enacted into law, it would immediately hurt senior citizens currently enrolled in Medicare,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Center.  “The oft-repeated talking point that the Republican budget won’t impact current enrollees is simply not true.”

The Republican budget plan would repeal parts of the federal health care law, including measures to close the “donut hole.”  Health reform fixed a deficiency in the Medicare prescription drug program by addressing the gap in Medicare Part D that had forced beneficiaries to pay 100 percent of their drug costs after they exceeded an initial coverage limit and until they qualified for catastrophic coverage. That gap in coverage—which totaled $3,610 in 2010—has existed since the drug benefit’s creation in 2006.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed by President Obama in March 2010, seniors who get stuck in the “donut hole” will now see the costs of their brand name drugs discounted by 50 percent, phasing out the “donut hole” completely over the next ten years.

The DPPC projections for this report used data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Click here to download the full state-by-state report (PDF).