By Gabe Bullard, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A Missouri group says that thousands of seniors and disabled citizens statewide may temporarily lose prescription drug coverage in late September.
That's when a Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition study found the average Medicare-eligible American will fall into a coverage gap.
The so-called donut-hole occurs in the government's drug plan for those who pay between roughly two thousand and five thousand dollars per year for prescription drugs.
Those in the gap will not receive money for their prescriptions.
Margarida Jorge, a spokeswoman for the coalition, says the gap affects thousands of elderly and disabled Missourians.
"The next time they go to the pharmacy after September 22 to try to fill a prescription, a lot of those people will be told, 'Sorry, it's not the five dollar co-pay today, you have to pay the whole two hundred bucks for the prescription," Jorge said.
The coalition is asking Senator Jim Talent of Missouri to change the government's prescription drug plan.