Congresswoman Kristi Noem continues to demand repeal of the Affordable Care Act. But at what cost to seniors?

Since the health care law was enacted, nearly 7 million seniors and people with disabilities have saved a total of $9 billion on prescription drugs. That’s an average savings of about $1,200 per person since the health care law started closing the “donut hole.”

It used to be the case that when people with Medicare hit a certain threshold of spending on prescription drugs, they would suddenly have to pay out-of-pocket for the entire cost of the prescription drugs until they reached catastrophic coverage. Now, the Affordable Care Act is closing this gap in coverage, the so-called “donut hole.”

As a result, here in South Dakota, in just the first 10 months of 2013, approximately 8200 people with Medicare have saved a total of $5,823,206 on prescription drugs, which is an average discount of $714 per person.

Additionally, new data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services today shows that, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, in the first 11 months of 2013 alone, an estimated 25.4 million people with traditional Medicare – including approximately 84,000 South Dakotans – received at least one free preventive service at no out-of-pocket cost, such as an annual wellness visit or mammogram.

Helping middle class families take advantage of the benefits of the health care law, like ensuring millions of seniors and people with disabilities have access to more affordable prescription medications and free preventive services through Medicare, should be a top priority for lawmakers in Washington. Yet instead of working to fix the law, Congresswoman Noem and her tea party friends have voted to repeal the health care law more than 40 times. They even shut down the government to prevent new benefits, like saving seniors money on prescription drugs and preventative services, from taking effect.

We’ll need folks in every corner of the state to share Congresswoman Kristi Noem’s #CostOfRepeal. Will you help?

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