“Doughnut Hole” Calculator Helps Avoid the Gap

If Medicare helps pay for your prescription drugs, you may wonder whether you’ll be part of the millions of Americans who fall into the Part D doughnut hole—the coverage gap in which you pay full price for your medication while still paying your Part D premiums.

With AARP’s Doughnut Hole Calculator, you can stop wondering and take action. This web-based tool does the math and tells you how likely you are to fall into the doughnut hole, while offering suggestions for reducing your costs so you can postpone hitting the gap. In some cases, you can even avoid it entirely!

AARP New Hampshire members are learning the value of this tool. An AARP member in the seacoast tried out the tool and discovered he could stay out of the doughnut hole entirely and save hundreds of dollars. All he had to do was talk to his doctor about switching to less expensive, therapeutically similar prescription drugs. And that’s exactly what he did!

What the Calculator Does

In addition to calculating whether or not you will fall into the doughnut hole this year, the calculator:

• Identifies up to three different medications that have a similar medical effect as your prescribed drugs, but are less expensive;
• Recalculates your out-of-pocket costs using these drug options and shows if, and when, you’ll hit the doughnut hole if you switch to the other similar prescription medicines; and,
• Includes a letter that you can bring to your doctor to discuss whether the drug options will work for you.

See where you stand! Visit the AARP Doughnut Hole Calculator today.