<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Medicare Part D coverage gap (informally known as the Medicare donut hole) is a period of consumer payment for prescription medication costs which lies between the initial coverage limit and the catastrophic - coverage threshold, when the consumer is a member of a Medicare Part D prescription - drug program administered by the United States federal government . The gap is reached after shared insurer payment - consumer payment for all covered prescription drugs reaches a government - set amount, and is left only after the consumer has paid full, unshared costs of an additional amount for the same prescriptions . Upon entering the gap, the prescription payments to date are re-set to $0 and continue until the maximum amount of the gap is reached OR the current annual period lapses: copayments made by the consumer up to the point of entering the gap are specifically not counted toward payment of the costs accruing while in the gap . </P> <P> Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 gradually phase out the coverage gap, eliminating it by 2020 . </P>

What is the doughnut hole in medicare part d