The Associated Press reports on the new deal that the drug companies have negotiated with Medicare's drug provision. The story provides,
President Barack Obama on Monday welcomed the pharmaceuticalindustry's agreement to help close a gap in Medicare's drug coverage,calling the pact a step forward in the push for overhaul of thenation's health care system. Obama said that drug companies havepledged to spend $80 billion over the next decade to help reduce thecost of drugs for seniors and pay for a portion of Obama's health carelegislation. . . .
Obamasaid the move on Medicare will help correct an anomaly in the programthat provides a prescription drug benefit through the government healthcare program for the elderly and disabled. Under the deal, drugcompanies will pay part of the cost of brand name drugs for lower andmiddle-income older people in the so-called "doughnut hole." That termrefers to a feature of the current drug program that requiresbeneficiaries to pay the entire cost of prescriptions after initialcoverage is exhausted but before catastrophic coverage begins. . . .