Decision Time
If you've put off trying to figure out Medicare Part D, the clock is ticking
The one-stop source of information on the various plans is medicare.gov, the federal website. You plug in your prescriptions and ZIP code, and the website will compute a list of plans available to you ranked by annual cost. One practical way to zero in on the right plan is to compare how well the three cheapest options would fill your needs, says Jocelyne Watrous, a consultant at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a consumer education organization.
It's also important, says Watrous, to consider the plan's formulary, or list of covered drugs, as well as the drugs' costs. Though insurers have the right to drop drugs as they see fit, a new ruling announced last week generally will allow people already on a dropped drug to keep coverage until the end of the plan year, when they can switch companies. But as a recent survey of insurers by the Kaiser Family Foundation found, drug costs vary widely from one to the next. Even if the medication is covered, a person could pay anywhere from $15 to $66 a month out of pocket for the popular osteoporosis drug Fosamax, for example. The cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor can cost anywhere from $17 to $62 each month. And you could lay out $20 to $1,276 a month for Enbrel, a drug for rheumatoid arthritis.
Buyer beware. Make sure, too, that you can use a plan at nearby pharmacies; you can check at medicare.gov or by calling drugstores. Many seniors have been confused about whether plans that have partnered with drugstores for marketing purposes--and whose insurance cards often carry the store's logo--can be used at other stores. In a word, yes. Such co-branding has angered many small independent pharmacists, who think the practice costs them business. Medicare says next year it will prohibit pharmacy logos on identification cards.
Healthy seniors who are not on any medications might be tempted to ignore Part D--or they might want to think of it as akin to long-term-care insurance. While they'll be adding another bill if they sign on, they could face stiff penalties later if they wait and eventually need coverage. "What I'm thinking of doing is just taking the cheapest program," says Adriane Roth of Millbrae, Calif., who doesn't take any medications now but intends to pick a plan before May 15. "You never know what tomorrow brings," she says. "I'm not a big risk taker."
Most seniors who have gritted their teeth and done the research say the program is saving them money. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 63 percent are paying less for drugs now. Favale allows that the process has been challenging during these early months of the program, but would she enroll again? "Absolutely."
advertisement
