Rep. Eshoo supports Medicare and has fought hard to protect it during her entire service in Congress. Medicare is a federal health insurance program that extends health coverage Americans aged 65 or older, as well as disabled Americans of any age.

Medicare services are provided in four parts:

• Part A, the Hospital Insurance program, pays for inpatient hospital, skilled nursing facility, and hospice care.
• Part B, Supplementary Medical Insurance, pays for physician, outpatient, and preventive services.
• Part C refers to private Medicare Advantage plans, such as HMOs, that provide Part A and B benefits to enrollees.
• Part D is the outpatient prescription drug benefit that began in January 2006 and is funded by general revenues, beneficiary premiums, and state payments.

The Medicare “Donut Hole”

Most plans with Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D) have a coverage gap (called a “donut hole”). This means that after you and your drug plan have spent a certain amount of money for covered drugs, you have to pay all costs out-of-pocket for your prescriptions up to a yearly limit. Once you have spent up to the yearly limit, your coverage gap ends and your drug plan helps pay for covered drugs again.

Rep. Eshoo helped draft the Affordable Care Act which closes the “donut hole” by 2020 and has started by issuing rebate checks to beneficiaries in the “hole.” Learn more about your costs in the donut hole.