0 a small, round doughnut (= a circular cake fried in hot fat), often made from the part cut out of the middle of a larger, ring-shaped doughnut:
There is a chocolate fountain with strawberries, doughnut holes, marshmallows, and pretzels for dipping.
1 for people on a particular kind of Medicare plan for prescription drugs (= ones that can only be bought if a doctor orders them for you), the fact of having to pay for a drug because its cost is between two levels at which the cost will be paid by their plan:
To make these delicious treats you need plain store-bought doughnut holes.
Doughnut holes sold by the Canadian coffee chain Tim Horton's are known as "Timbits."
His first job was plucking circles from the center of rounds of dough - in other words, making the doughnut holes.
The infamous "doughnut hole" in the plan's coverage leaves seniors without a pharmaceutical benefit after drug costs reach $2,251, until it kicks in again when costs reach $5,100.
Some economists say that with proper planning, some patients who entered the doughnut hole this year could have avoided it.
Opponents have denounced the "doughnut hole" of non-coverage within the full Medicare drug benefit, which began in 2006.
