Medicare changes mean some Missourians could pay less

A dozen or so women sit around a U-shaped table inside Care Connections for Aging Services, the local Area Agency on Aging in the west central part of Missouri.

They're all here to listen to Scott Miniea from the Missouri State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or MO SHIP, and to learn about the new changes to Medicare that will be taking effect in 2025.

"Then that out-of-pocket cap — that's our donut hole," Miniea said. "So, we have no donut holes on the back table because we don't have donut holes anymore in 2025."

The so-called "donut hole" that Miniea is referring to is the gap in coverage that used to exist for Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage.

Essentially, there was a gap between what insurance companies agreed to cover at the start of coverage and where catastrophic coverage began.

For years, this gap led to people spending thousands of dollars of their own money on medication or choosing to go without.

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