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"If you spent more than $3,700 on covered drugs in 2017, you know all about the donut hole. It’s the dreaded coverage gap when your initial coverage ends and you enter Phase 3 of your Part D plan. In 2018, the out-of-pocket amount increases slightly to $3,750.\nIf you land in the donut hole, your covered Medicare drug costs will be different. In 2018, you will pay 35% of brand-name drugs and 44% of generic drugs. You will need to reach another benchmark before you can get out of the donut hole. In 2018, this amount will be $5,000. Then, you reach the catastrophic coverage phase, which we will tell you more about in the next blog.\nThanks to the Affordable Care Act, these discount percentages are decreasing each year until 2020 – assuming Congress leaves this part of the Act alone.\nThe amounts you pay for drugs while in the donut hole count toward getting you out. They differ for brand vs. generic, however. For brand-name drugs, part of the amount that the manufacturer discounts the drugs is included, so 85% of the price will count as out-of-pocket costs. For generic drugs, only the amount you actually pay counts toward getting you out of the hole.\n........"
<https://medicareonvideo.com/medicare-alphabet/>