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About Medicare Part D prescription drug plans....

alisande
9 years ago

According to this article from AARP:

Millions of Medicare recipients could be hit with rising prescription drug premium costs in 2015. Nearly 10 million people now enrolled in six of the 10 largest Part D drug plans face premium increases ranging from 11 to 52 percent if they don't switch to a different plan. Three other large plans, with nearly 3.5 million members, will drop their premiums by 13 to 31 percent.

I've been using the AARP Rx plan from United Health Care. The monthly premium this year has been $41.70. Even though I've had no claims, the amount will be increased to $49.70 in 2015. So I'm looking at other plans, but because I take no drugs on a regular basis it's difficult to compare them.

The lowest-priced Rx plan with a good rating is Humana's Walmart Plan. The premium is only $15.70 per month, but there's a $320 deductible. Does this mean the insured pays the first $320 in drug costs?

The yearly cost on AARP's plan is $596.40 vs. $188.40 for Humana Walmart. If you add the $320 deductible to Humana, that brings it up to $508.40, still less than AARP. Of course, I wouldn't have to pay any of the deductible if I don't need any drugs. But there's no way to know that. Insurance always involves the unknown.

Humana's co-pays seem to be less, but I'm not all that familiar with the terminology (Humana says, "Drug Copay/ Coinsurance: $1 - $4, 20% - 35%," while AARP says, "Drug Copay/ Coinsurance: $2 - $80, 33%.")

I suppose I could switch for a year and hope for the best. I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this, whether you have the Humana Walmart plan or not. Thanks!

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