Switch Pt D Plans vis medicare.gov

[kaneohe]

My understanding is that if you sign up for a new plan on medicare.gov, that automatically cancels the old plan for the new yr. What about if you have set up autopay on that old plan..........is that also automatically cancelled. I believe you have to manually set up autopay on the new plan?

 

[harllee]

My understanding is that if you sign up for a new plan on medicare.gov, that automatically cancels the old plan for the new yr. What about if you have set up autopay on that old plan..........is that also automatically cancelled. I believe you have to manually set up autopay on the new plan?

I can only speak to Part D plans on Medicare.gov. If you sign up for a new plan on Medicare.gov, your old plan and the autopay for that plan are automatically cancelled but you do need to set up a new payment plan for the new plan. The new plan will send you information regarding how to set up your new automatic payment. I know all this because I change my Part D plan every year.

 

[Bamaman]

I took inventory of my meds, and after the December renewals I will have enough meds to last until July.

Part D deductibles are high @ $485 for the most part. The plan would essentially pay nothing for 2021 meds for me.

But who knows what 2021 holds? If I had to go onto new medications that were expensive, I would be a dead duck without at least one of the low cost, high deductible Part D plans.

 

[kaneohe]

I took inventory of my meds, and after the December renewals I will have enough meds to last until July.

Part D deductibles are high @ $485 for the most part. The plan would essentially pay nothing for 2021 meds for me.

But who knows what 2021 holds? If I had to go onto new medications that were expensive, I would be a dead duck without at least one of the low cost, high deductible Part D plans.

You probably are familiar w/ GoodRx.com but if not should investigate. This yr doc prescribed new meds ......my El Cheapo pt D plan "covers or not" them at $270/mo. and when I sounded shocked , pharmacist said generic was $145/mo which I was ignorantly happy to accept. Later I discovered that GoodRx.com covers them at $60/mo or so. So it wasn't my pt. D plan that saved me but GoodRx.com.

 

[Time2]

You probably are familiar w/ GoodRx.com but if not should investigate. This yr doc prescribed new meds ......my El Cheapo pt D plan "covers or not" them at $270/mo. and when I sounded shocked , pharmacist said generic was $145/mo which I was ignorantly happy to accept. Later I discovered that GoodRx.com covers them at $60/mo or so. So it wasn't my pt. D plan that saved me but GoodRx.com.

But, be sure to check GoodRx prices, I have a BP med that is $165 with GoodRx.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

But, be sure to check GoodRx prices, I have a BP med that is $165 with GoodRx.

I know there are probably good reasons for taking an expensive BP Med, I am not a doc so who knows. I am not trying to tell you or suggest you do anything different.

BUT, I have been plagued with HBP for over 35 years, and have taken many different meds during that time to keep it in check. Most very cheap and mostly generic. Now everything I take is Tier 1 Generic.

Once, When I moved and had to get a different doctor I was prescribed an expensive med. When I got home looked it up and it turned out to be a name brand of a freely available generic. I called the docs office and explained I do not want the expensive name brand and would not XYZ generic be the same.

They re-did the script and I have taken it for years with no issues. It is free at most Grocery store pharmacies.

On, My next docs visit I asked why I was prescribed a drug with such a high cost. He explained that he used charts on his computer to recommend meds. Leads me to wonder who writes those charts.

Sadly most folks cannot or do not want to do the research, or feel uncomfortable confronting their doctor. Some do not even have computers or access to the web, but I am sure some of their family do. I have to believe that some, especially older folks are paying way to much for meds as a result.

Again, NOT suggesting for a moment, that is the case here.

 

[Animorph]

My Part D had great drug prices during the deductible period. Low enough that my total cost was cheaper with my plan than with other plans that had lower premiums.

I only take about $250/year of generic drugs, but the savings made it worth selecting a $30/month plan instead of the cheapest $20/month plan.

 

[Animorph]

I know there are probably good reasons for taking an expensive BP Med, I am not a doc so who knows. I am not trying to tell you or suggest you do anything different.

BUT, I have been plagued with HBP for over 35 years, and have taken many different meds during that time to keep it in check. Most very cheap and mostly generic. Now everything I take is Tier 1 Generic.

Once, When I moved and had to get a different doctor I was prescribed an expensive med. When I got home looked it up and it turned out to be a name brand of a freely available generic. I called the docs office and explained I do not want the expensive name brand and would not XYZ generic be the same.

They re-did the script and I have taken it for years with no issues. It is free at most Grocery store pharmacies.

On, My next docs visit I asked why I was prescribed a drug with such a high cost. He explained that he used charts on his computer to recommend meds. Leads me to wonder who writes those charts.

Sadly most folks cannot or do not want to do the research, or feel uncomfortable confronting their doctor. Some do not even have computers or access to the web, but I am sure some of their family do. I have to believe that some, especially older folks are paying way to much for meds as a result.

Again, NOT suggesting for a moment, that is the case here.

My doctor is sensitive to cost, but remembers the drugs mostly by brand name. He always has to look up the generic name, and remember if there even is a generic version. Lots of drugs, and the names essentially change when they go off patent. But hopefully they're making or at least annotating their own drug charts.

 

[Time2]

I know there are probably good reasons for taking an expensive BP Med, I am not a doc so who knows. I am not trying to tell you or suggest you do anything different.

BUT, I have been plagued with HBP for over 35 years, and have taken many different meds during that time to keep it in check. Most very cheap and mostly generic. Now everything I take is Tier 1 Generic.

Once, When I moved and had to get a different doctor I was prescribed an expensive med. When I got home looked it up and it turned out to be a name brand of a freely available generic. I called the docs office and explained I do not want the expensive name brand and would not XYZ generic be the same.

They re-did the script and I have taken it for years with no issues. It is free at most Grocery store pharmacies.

On, My next docs visit I asked why I was prescribed a drug with such a high cost. He explained that he used charts on his computer to recommend meds. Leads me to wonder who writes those charts.

Sadly most folks cannot or do not want to do the research, or feel uncomfortable confronting their doctor. Some do not even have computers or access to the web, but I am sure some of their family do. I have to believe that some, especially older folks are paying way to much for meds as a result.

Again, NOT suggesting for a moment, that is the case here.

Ya, it might be worth looking into a med change. From day one the dose was to high, and I ended up splitting the pill in half. When it was first prescribed, using my, at the time, BCBS insurance at a specific pharmacy, the cost was $10 a month. Did that for years. Back in March I went on Medicare, my part D, has it as a tier 3 or 4 can't remember. I started calling around and ended up on one of the pharmaceutical co. plans that costs $40 a month. Very shortly after, I was put on a BPH med and that with my 1/2 BP pill lowered my BP to much, so I stopped the BP med. I'm finding now the BP going back up, so, I have started again with the BP med when I see a higher BP measurement.

 

[Venturer]

I can only speak to Part D plans on Medicare.gov. If you sign up for a new plan on Medicare.gov, your old plan and the autopay for that plan are automatically cancelled but you do need to set up a new payment plan for the new plan. The new plan will send you information regarding how to set up your new automatic payment. I know all this because I change my Part D plan every year.

I looked at the new part d plans for DW and I because our current plan will go up by around $4.00 a month. One of the plans I found we can get for $7.58 per month with same deductible and all our current meds which are all tier 1 except 1 eyedrop for glaucoma are now and will be .00 on that plan. I know when we sign up for the new one we will have to call to set it up but it just amazes me how one company can charge so little while some of the other plans are so high with the same meds. I understand that if we had to get some other meds that are a different tier we would be paying more but hopefully we will be good with the less priced one.

 

[harllee]

I looked at the new part d plans for DW and I because our current plan will go up by around $4.00 a month. One of the plans I found we can get for $7.58 per month with same deductible and all our current meds which are all tier 1 except 1 eyedrop for glaucoma are now and will be .00 on that plan. I know when we sign up for the new one we will have to call to set it up but it just amazes me how one company can charge so little while some of the other plans are so high with the same meds. I understand that if we had to get some other meds that are a different tier we would be paying more but hopefully we will be good with the less priced one.

Be sure to check the pharmacies the $7.58 plan uses --they have a fairly limited list of pharmacies. The pharmacy I like to use is not on their list.

 

[Venturer]

We use CVS and Kroger which are both on the list from the plans we are looking at now. But thanks for mentioning that.