The "best" Medicare drug plan is the one that fits your needs and budget. Sometimes paying more will result in lower total annual costs, sometimes not.
I have a husband and wife as clients. Husband takes about a dozen drugs, some quite expensive. The wife takes 4 drugs and none of them are terribly pricey but they are not $4 generics either.
As it turns out the "best" plan for her runs about $80 per month while his plan (coincidentally with the same carrier) is about $50 per month.
If she chose a lower priced plan her total annual costs would rise by several hundred dollars.
If he opted for the more expensive plan like she has, his total annual outlay would also increase.
The formulary is the driving factor in both these situations.
Deciding on your best Part D plan is based on your medicines, local pharmacies, and total out of pocket costs. Each plan offers their own formularies (list of drugs each plan covers). Some plans may have a wide selection of generics, but a more limited selection of name brands. This helps keep their premiums down.
Some plans have open formularies (not many available now). An open formulary must take on any newly approved drugs from Medicare. With many of the newly approved drugs being biological (read expensive), this can cause the premiums for open plans to be much higher.
In order to determine what is best for you, you would need to provide a list of medicines, dosages, frequencies, and desired local pharmacy to your broker. The broker can run a comparison and determine what's best for you.
Most states have over 25 plans to choose from. Selection of the pharmacy can also add additional savings. Some plans offer free generics from certain pharmacies. The plans are often associated with the big chain pharmacies.
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I have a husband and wife as clients. Husband takes about a dozen drugs, some quite expensive. The wife takes 4 drugs and none of them are terribly pricey but they are not $4 generics either.
As it turns out the "best" plan for her runs about $80 per month while his plan (coincidentally with the same carrier) is about $50 per month.
If she chose a lower priced plan her total annual costs would rise by several hundred dollars.
If he opted for the more expensive plan like she has, his total annual outlay would also increase.
The formulary is the driving factor in both these situations.
Some plans have open formularies (not many available now). An open formulary must take on any newly approved drugs from Medicare. With many of the newly approved drugs being biological (read expensive), this can cause the premiums for open plans to be much higher.
In order to determine what is best for you, you would need to provide a list of medicines, dosages, frequencies, and desired local pharmacy to your broker. The broker can run a comparison and determine what's best for you.
Most states have over 25 plans to choose from. Selection of the pharmacy can also add additional savings. Some plans offer free generics from certain pharmacies. The plans are often associated with the big chain pharmacies.