With all the hullabaloo surrounding the benefits and problems associated with the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, many people, especially seniors, are unaware of the benefits they can take advantage of which are contained within the legislation.
Older folks in the United States have already saved a bundle on their costs for prescription drugs under the terms of the ACA, to the tune of close to $27 billion for almost 12 million people since 2010. Another 40 million seniors took advantage of the free preventative health care services the ACA offers.
According to new information released by the Department of Health and Human services, over 11.8 million people who received Medicare benefits have gotten discounts worth $26.8 billion on prescriptions since the founding of ACA in 2010. That averages out to $2,272 per person.
During 2016 alone, almost 5 million seniors and people with disabilities received reduced prices on prescriptions worth more than $5.6 billion.
Seniors are also getting preventive medical services with no co-payments or deductibles, making them quite accessible to all those eligible. The DHHS estimates that 40.1 million people with Medicare utilized at least one preventive service just in 2016.
For more information about Medicare prescription drug benefits go to: http://www.medicare.gov/part-d/.
For more information about preventative services go to: https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/preventive-and-screening-services.html
