Medicare drug savings hit $2.1B

WASHINGTON (MCT) – In the first full year of the new health care law, 3.6 million people in the government Medicare program saved $2.1 billion on prescription drugs in 2011, the Obama administration announced Thursday.

The savings are one of the first tangible benefits of the sweeping overhaul that President Obama signed in March 2010.

The new law’s biggest changes, including the guarantee that all Americans can get health coverage even if they are sick, do not go into effect until 2014.

Obama and his allies have been laboring to rally support in the face of persistent public skepticism that the law will help millions of beleaguered consumers struggling with rising medical bills.

The Medicare prescription drug provision is designed to phase out a gap in coverage for pharmaceuticals that was included in the Part D program when it was created under President George W. Bush.