Billions of dollars in drug savings for Medicare beneficiaries may come to an end if the Supreme Court overturns the 2010 federal health law, a drug industry spokesman said Tuesday. The law provides “the necessary legal framework” for drug companies to slash brand-name drug prices by half for seniors and people with disabilities when they enter a coverage gap in their Medicare drug plans, said Matthew Bennett, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.  Eventually the discounts grow so that the gap, known as the doughnut hole, is closed by 2020. But if the law goes, the discounts may go, too.

More than 5.1 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the Part D drug plans saved more than $3.2 billion on prescription drugs from March 2010 through December 2011 because of the health law provision, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  In the first four months of this year, seniors saved another $301.5 million.  [MORE at msnbc]  [MORE at Kaiser Health News]