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WASHINGTON — Seniors who fall in the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole' prescription drug coverage gap in 2010 will receive a one-time $250 rebate check as early as this week, Tennessee U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen announced. Checks were to begin being mailed out today.

“One of the many goals of the health care reform act was to close the notorious ‘donut hole,'” Cohen said. “Under the Affordable Care Act, the ‘donut hole' will cease to exist by the year 2020.”

The Medicare Part D coverage gap — also know as the ‘donut hole' is the difference of the initial coverage limit and the catastrophic coverage threshold, as described in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. After a Medicare beneficiary surpasses the prescription drug coverage limit, the beneficiary is financially responsible for the entire cost of prescription drugs until the expense reaches the catastrophic coverage threshold.

The Affordable Care Act seeks to close the “donut hole” by providing eligible seniors with a one-time $250 rebate check in 2010. In 2011, there will be a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs in the “donut hole.” And finally, under the new law, the “donut hole” will be closed by 2020.