No Donut Hole

In 2006, we galvanized the grassroots to fill the "Donut Hole" – the gap in Medicare's Part D prescription drug coverage that costing seniors in dollars and lives. We delivered a petition with about 10,000 signatures to the White House and Congress, demanding they enact legislation to eliminate the Donut Hole, as well as empower Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. And we conducted the No Donut Hole video contest, with creative depictions of the Part D dangers generating more than 30,000 views. Check out the winning videos below. (More information about the donut hole and Part D).

 

Petition to President Bush and Donut Hole Supporters in Congress

This campaign expired in November 2006. Below is the petition for which we generated about 10,000 signatures.

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No Donut Hole!

Dear President Bush and Donut Hole Supporters in Congress,

No American should have to sacrifice his or her life-saving prescription medications because they can't afford them. It is also unconscionable that Medicare is actually prohibited from negotiating for lower drug prices for Americans—merely to line the pockets of big pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

That's why I ask you to support the Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act (HR-752/S-345). This bill would eliminate Part D's dangerous "donut hole" which, in turn, would protect each enrollee from thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket prescription expenses—expenses that are unaffordable to many. It would also require Medicare to use its bulk-buying power to negotiate for lower drug prices.

Consider this,

1. According to a June, 2006 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, seniors hit with a coverage gap like the Part D donut hole are 22% more likely to die than seniors who aren't forced to pay thousands in out-of-pocket expenses.


2. Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices would save enough money to eliminate the donut hole entirely with no extra cost to taxpayers.

Passing the Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act would help millions of Americans who have worked hard their entire lives and deserve to retire with security and dignity. Please do the right thing and support this legislation today.

Sincerely,
Your name

No "Donut Hole" Video Contest Winner!

Below is our video contest winner and other crowd favorites. Thanks to all contestants for presenting such creative ways to get rid of "donut holes," and helping to promote this campaign.

Contest Winner "So I Married a Donut Hole Murderer" (by Lasita9)
Other Community Favorites
"No Donut Hole Medicare!" (by murphytime)	"MAGIC! Making the Donut Hole Disappear (by IrnBru001)

• More donut hole videos »

No "Donut Hole" Video Contest Rules

1. To be eligible for the $500 prize, contestants must:
   • publish their video(s) on YouTube per our How to Share a Video guidelines.
   • publish their video(s) before the contest deadline: 5pm EST, Friday, September 29, (Extended Deadline).
   • visibly display our campaign URL—www.nodonuthole.com—during at least some portion of their video(s)
   • identify their video(s) in YouTube with the following tags: nodonuthole medicare donut
   
   
2. The contestant who submits the "community favorite" video will win $500.


3. The "community favorite" video will be determined by calculating a score for the video as follows: Score = Total # of Views * Overall Community Rating. For example, a video with 1,000 views and an overall community rating of 3.5 stars, will score 3,500.


4. Final scores will be calculated at the contest deadline—5pm EST, Friday, September 29—and the winner will be announced later that week.


5. The Campaign for America's Future reserves the right to disqualify any contestant whose video content it deems a) offensive, or b) undermines opposition to the Part D "donut hole".


6. Staff and family members of the Campaign for America's Future and Americans United are not eligible to win the contest prize.

How to Share a Video

1. Record Your Video: Use any video recording device (like a digital camera, cell phone camera, etc.) to record your suggested way to get rid of "donut holes". Check out our sample videos for ideas.

   IMPORTANT: Be sure to visibly display our campaign web address – 'www.nodonuthole.com' – for at least some part of your video. For example, simply print or write out 'www.nodonuthole.com' and hold it in front of the camera.

2. Download Your Video: Connect your video recording device to an internet-connected computer- using the cables that came with your video recorder. Download the video to your computer.


3. Login to YouTube: Go to http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_upload. Log into YouTube, or follow the easy instructions to create a new account.


4. Upload Your Video (1 of 2): When prompted, enter a title, short description, category and tag for your video.

   IMPORTANT: Be sure to add the tags "nodonuthole medicare donut", for your video where prompted to add tags,and check the "News & Blogs" category. This will let us find your video for the contest drawing.

5. Upload Your Video (2 of 2): Click "Browse" to locate the video that you downloaded to your computer in Step 2. Select your video with a single mouse click, and click "Open" to choose that video for uploading. Finally, click "Upload Video" at the bottom of the page, and your done!