Why all the commercials this year about Medicare Part D?
Are you wondering why in the world there are so many television advertisements this time of the year about Medicare Part D? Is this something I should be worried about, because I already have coverage? Why all the fuss? Because it can be, and often is confusing!
Per Wikipdia, Medicare Part D, also known as Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, is a US federal government benefit that subsidizes the costs of prescription drugs and prescription drug insurance premiums for Medicare beneficiaries.
Things change every year; prescriptions that were covered last year may not be covered this year, your doctor may decide not to accept Part D next year. Even if your prescriptions are covered by a group policy, if that policy isn’t an approved substitute for Part D, you’ll owe penalties if you don’t enroll in Part D when you turn 65! For all of these reasons and more, we recommend you review your Part D enrollment each year.
Every year you have the ability to shop your Part D coverage from October 15th through December 7th. You can use different tools or services to compare your coverage and costs for all plans in the area where you live. You can even see which vendors near you have the cheapest cost for your specific prescription drugs on the official U.S. Government site, https://www.medicare.gov/.
If you need help figuring out what your coverage should be, we work with our clients and a Medicare expert to help you make these decisions. Please let us know if you are interested in learning more about this!
- By Debbie Blackwell, Client Relationship Manager