Five years later: How ACA is working for Florida—A Stronger Medicare

A Stronger Medicare Program

Making prescription drugs affordable for seniors: In Florida, people with Medicare have saved nearly $979,196,447 on prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act.  In 2014 alone, 346,126 individuals in Florida saved over $306,016,285, or an average of $884 per beneficiary.  In 2015, people with Medicare in the “donut hole” received a 55 percent discount on covered brand name drugs and a 35 percent discount on generic drugs. And thanks to the health care law, coverage for both brand name and generic drugs will continue to increase over time until the coverage gap is closed.  Nationally, over 9.4 million people with Medicare have saved over $15 billion on prescription drugs since the law’s enactment, for an average savings of $1,598 per beneficiary.

Covering preventive services with no deductible or co-pay: With no deductibles or co-pays, cost is no longer a barrier for seniors and people with disabilities who want to stay healthy by detecting and treating health problems early. In 2014 alone, an estimated 39 million people benefited from Medicare’s coverage of preventive services with no cost-sharing.  In Florida, 3,190,116 individuals with Medicare used one or more free preventive service in 2014.

Cracking down on fraud and abuse:The health care law helps stop fraud with tougher screening procedures, stronger penalties, and new technology. More than $27.8 billion has been returned to the Medicare Trust Funds since 1997 because of these fraud enforcement efforts. For every dollar spent on health care-related fraud and abuse activities in the last three years the administration has recovered $7.70.