Drug Companies May Narrow Medicare Coverage Gap

DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pharmaceutical industry would finance improved coverage under the Medicare prescription drug program and help defray the cost of President Barack Obama's health care legislation under an $80 billion deal with key lawmakers and the White House that officials said Friday night was close to agreement.

These officials said the 10-year proposal under discussion would have drug firms pay as much as half of the cost of brand-name drugs for lower and middle-income seniors in the so-called "doughnut hole."

Medicare patients with incomes up to about $80,000 would realize some benefit. The term "doughnut hole" refers to a feature of the current drug program that requires beneficiaries to pay the entire cost of prescriptions after initial coverage is exhausted but before catastrophic coverage begins. ...