Medical coverage under Obamacare

Unless the Tea Party, Republicans and conservatives scuttle Obamacare, some of the changes in your medical coverage for 2011 include:

Once you hit the donut hole in your prescription coverage, you will pay 50% of the cost for brand-name drugs. Previously, you paid 100%. This year you will hit the donut hole when the total cost of your drugs, no matter who pays for them, reaches $2,840. Since I paid $2,363.74 for my drugs in 2010, most of it after I hit the donut hole, halving that cost appeals to me. Others have paid even more. And my drug costs would have been even higher but I saved nearly $2,000 by going to Canada to get my more expensive drugs once I hit the donut hole.

Medicare deductible waived for colorectal cancer screening tests.

Medicare covers a personalized prevention plan, including a comprehensive health risk assessment.

Over-the-counter drugs not prescribed by a doctor are not deductible under various health accounts.

In 2012, Medicare payments for hospital readmissions will be reduced to discourage "excess" (preventable) hospital readmissions.

In 2013, your prescription co-pay will reduce gradually till you'll pay 25% of what you do now by 2020.

Also in 2013, only itemized deductions for unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income can be used, compared to the current 7.5%. Except that, till 2016, those 65 and older keep the 7.5% stipulation.

In 2014, insurance companies no longer will be allowed to put a financial cap on your coverage. Of course, by then we will have had another presidential election and yet another Congress. So who knows?

Click on the headline to check your medical coverage under the health reform law.