Find Medicare Part D Confusing? You're Not Alone

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MEDICARE PART D is for people that don't know about Canada....
Anyone paying high USA Drug Prices should immediately examine the price of their drugs on WWW.Pharmacychecker.com to save thousands of dollars buying THE SAME DRUGS through the mail Via Canada......this is what the Part D Plans & the Drug companies don't want you to know!

Steve of FL 1:09PM April 07, 2009

Guys,
We can complain all we want about Part D but it is probably here to stay. The best solution is to make a good plan choice to start, managing our costs while in the plan, and being sure to check if the plan still works for the next year. I know we all b**ch about the government so lets us something the government doesn't control. A good place to start is www.medicaresaver.com. These guys don't appear to have any connection to uncle sam. They look to provide some really cool stuff to help seniors with a Part D plan.

lost senior of MO 11:23PM July 28, 2008

I just found out that there is an AEP and an OEP. THe OEP (Open Enrollment Form) runs from January 1 to March 31. Why do they have to make everything so confusing with all these acronyms? My parents (and me too) are completely sick of all the cmplications.

Claire Cantu of IN 9:49AM July 07, 2008

I reached the donut hole in April. since then I have had to pay retail for my drugs. I spent 715.00 3 weeks ago and that wasn't all my medicine. Then I spent 123 .00 the week after. I am on disability and only get 1630 a month for disability. I have no other income. There is no way I can pay that kind of money. I also have a 21 year old son in college. I own a house and have all the bills just like everyone else. The only way I can pay the bills is to keep transferring my hard earned money from my savings account., after I have nothing left in savings then I can get other help like Medicaid. I worked really hard all my life and don't feel like I should have to go broke before I can get any other help.
I have Lupus, which automatically puts me at a disadvantage. I do not disqualified from having a better supplement plan then I do. As soon as insurance companies hear that someone has Lupus they think it's an automatic death sentence. I also have Fibermyagia, Back Degenerative Disease. I have hypothyroidism and stage 3 chronic kidney disease and Migraines. I had back fusion surgery 2./28/.07 then neck fusion surgery 6/6/2007. I have 5 specialist doctors I have to go to every 3 months and different procedures done,
I also lost my 18 year precious daughter 1/27/2002 and have to go to counseling.
I am at the end of my rope. I can not pay for medicine anymore and will just have to quit taking them which is not the right ting to do but I can't afford to pay retail for medicine anymore.
Is there anyone that knows of a program where you can get a supplement insurance plan that does not have a donut hole that will take someone with Lupus. I have not found one yet except Humana not even AARP has a policy and I thought they were suppose to help. talk is cheap.
I don;t know what to do. I have 9 prescriptions to take. I have chronic pain so I go to pain management without the medicine they give me I could not even walk and I live in content pain but at least with their medicine I can have some of the pain taken away.
I cry everyday and could not possible function without an anxiety medication and antidepressant because of the lost of my daughter Ashley, I can't handle losing my child. I take thyroid medication because I am hypothyroidism and take preventive medication for Lupus and pain medication for chronic pain from Lupus and Fibermyagia. I don't have any other choice but to stop taking the medicine. I no longer will continue to take all my money out of my savings account. I may not live long enough to even use it without the preventive medication and pain control and mentally able to function because of the lost of my daughter.

Sandy Lavender of GA 9:27AM June 21, 2008

The problem with most comparisons is they do not compare against all the plans in each state and take a list of the persons medications. You can get stats on a particular plan, but unless you can see a side by side comparison of co-pays for each drug, you don't know the plan that will save you the most money. During the AEP or annual enrollment period you can go to www.MyPartDusa.com and get an online drug plan comparison based on your current medications. Your top 5 plans will come up for you. This is during the AEP or Nov. 15 thru Dec. 31st of each year. Right now, since you can't enroll, you can enter in your drugs and they will send it to you.
Most importantly, they also help you apply for "extra help" programs. Many people out there could be paying so much less for their meds, but do not even know about all the help that is available!

Karyn Blake of TN 2:02PM June 11, 2008

Medicare Part D helps a lot of people. The problem is that of the top 25 drugs prescribed to seniors, 18 have no generic substitute. Ok so if you are a senior it is likely you are on these drugs that cost usually around 80-120$ per month. All you have to do is be on three of these drugs to make you fall into the donut hole. The odds are if you have recently been in the hospital in the last 3-4 years you will wind up on one or two easily. The real problem is education and marketing. Pharmaceutical companies spend billions to make people think they will die or have a serious problem is they don’t take their newest medication. For years, hospitals have done what is called therapeutic substitution of medications to give the best cost/benefits ratio to its patients. This means a pharmacist goes out and looks for research to support an equivocal benefit from a generic drug versus the brand drug. I found a site yesterday that does this for seniors as well as spreadsheets all the plans. It is the simplest Part D tool I have used. You should take a serious look at www.MedicareSaver.com is you fall into the donut hole.

Mike K of KY 9:05PM May 21, 2008

I agree with all the coments, particulary the ones that there are too many plans to chose from. The Government allowed any and all fair game for seniors, and many are designed to confuse, bait and switch is another word I would use.
My sister has reached the donut hole in Feburary because of her heart condition, she has 6 medicnes she takes, and only 2 are gerneric. The copayments for the others cost over $600.00 a month, and it is slowely wiping her oiut. The Government had better do something because middle america has always supported this country, and there is a drastic decline in middle America income.
Wake up America seniors have paid into Medicare since 1981 and should not be paying now. We have paid our fair share, and we should not be paying now, or at least it your income is low income, yoiu should not have a premium at all.
Perhapes we could pass a special $.01 tax collected al all things to pay for Medicare in each state, perhapes than everyone contributes, wheather they want to or not.

P. Hughes of 3:40PM April 29, 2008

In reality a Medicare Part Choice is not all that hard. You just have to use the correct tool. Just like you really can't pound in a nail without a hammer you need to use the right tool to choose a Part D plan. MedicareSaver.com was that tool for my mom It showed my mom how all the plans rank out, if she would go into the donut hole and if she would come out. It even showed her how to save money on some of the really expensive medicine she was using. We tried using medicare.gov but we couldn't figure it out. We also tried some of the other sites out there. They are just run by insurance companies. You have to leave your drug profile with "somebody" and they never got back to her The MedicareSaver thing doesn't sell anything, you don't have to talk to anybody and the signed her up on the spot. It was really easy.

Ed Boles of MO 3:43PM April 23, 2008

Don't take part in it,because it is useless.The only ones benefiting are the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.Find a reliable out of U.S. provider and take care of your expenses, that way you will find a cheaper and better solution to your medical needs.

J.Richard Gove of MS 3:07PM April 23, 2008

To say it is difficult to choose a plan by your self is and understatement. In Oregon, ther are 47 different plans and no 2 are the same. But there is an answer.
In Oregon, I am a volunteer for an organization called SHIBA. Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance. We are a part of a nationwide organization of volunteers who help seniors find the right plan for them. Other state organizations may be found on a web site called ShipTalk.org. The organizations, sometimes called SHIP, for Senior Health Assistance Programs, can also be found under the Department of Health and Human Services at the state level.
Using the Medicare.gov website, we enter the clients drug list and in a matter of seconds, can find the plan that best suits their needs, both in availabity and cost. This is not a secure site. Anyone can use it, and with a little work, can do the same thing we do. And our help is free and unbiased.
They could make a singel plan for everyone, but this is a Capitalist society. Everyone wants to compete for your business. And a single plan, based on the work I have done with clients since the beginning of this program, would just be unfair to most people. Once you have enrolled a couple of hundred people, you begin to see that one plan does not meet everyons needs.
The other item that is not mentioned in any of these articles, is you can change plans once a year, if your needs change.
We in Oregon are very proud of the work we have done in getting the word out to seniors with well over a hundred presentations at senior centers, churchs, hospitals, news articles, public television spots and just word of mouth. Last year, we were recognized with an award from the Governor as the best volunteer group in Oregon. This was based on 300 volunteers enrolling 28000 seniors in Part D during the initial enrollment period.
I am sure the other states have some stories to tell also. The unfortunate fact is we do not have enough volunteers nationwide to go door to door, trying to find every single person who needs help. Perhaps the news media should step up and tell people out there we're here to help. We love what we do and feel a large amount of pride when we can make such an impact on our community.
Maybe some of you out there would like to join in and help get the word. What do you say?

Michael Majowicz of OR 2:19PM April 23, 2008