AP Report: Democrats are talking about closing the Medicare coverage gap for prescription drugs, but it seems to me the cost will be too great. They want to include it in their health care bill, which will include slashing Medicare and Medicare Advantage. The Senate has already killed an effort to allow access to low-cost prescriptions from abroad. I'll stay with the donut hole, thank you. But I do sympathize with this woman:

Anna Bollerman, a retired real estate broker, found herself pleading with doctors for free drug samples and maxing out her credit cards when she wound up in the doughnut hole this year.

"It put me in a position where I was totally embarrassed because I had to beg for medicine," said Bollerman, 80, of Bayville, N.J. She's coping with diabetes and a serious degenerative condition that affects her eyes.

A 90-day supply of one of her medications costs $1,496 when she's in the doughnut hole, said Bollerman. Her monthly income is a little over $1,500.

"All my life I was independent, and this is what I'm left with?" she said. "Whoever thought of this, it wasn't a very good idea."

I've done exactly the same thing and felt the same way.