Medicare Part D - 7 Ways to save money and get the right plan

Seven Ways to Get the Most from Medicare Part D!

Medicare Prescription Drug Plan - Seven easy ways that you can save money and get the right plan for you!

ORGANIZE. Get your current information organized. Being organized will make this journey of selecting and hopefully saving money on your prescription drugs much easier. You need to know the following information. What are the exact drug names and dosages for the prescriptions that you currently take? What are your costs for each prescription? Where do purchase each prescription? If you currently have prescription drug coverage, how much do you pay for the insurance premium, what are the deductibles and co pays?

RESEARCH. Before venturing out into the all the information that you are being bombarded with from the mail, TV, radio, magazines and public presentations, do some of your own research. With some research under your belt, you will be better prepared to ask questions that apply to your situation and to better discern when the information that you hear is just a "sales pitch" or legitimate information for your personal use and benefit.

A great place to start is www.medicare.gov . One of the advantages that you have, in today's world, is access to the "horse's mouth" source of information about this new program. Over the past several months the Social Security Administration has developed a very good and comprehensive source of information about their Prescription Drug Benefit program. If you don't have access at home to the Internet then bundle up and go to your local library and ask the reference librarian to help you get on the Internet from one of their computers. Your taxes have supported the library system in your community and now is a good time to make use of some of those tax dollars.

When you get onto the Medicare site look for the box that says "Medicare Spotlights". That box has several important links but my suggestion is that your first click should be on the underlined words "Formulary Finder".

Medicare Spotlights

Site Updates

Want to Learn More About the New Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage?

Landscape of Local Plans

Compare Medicare Prescription Drug Plans NEW!

Demo of the Prescription Drug Plan Finder NEW!

Enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan NEW!

CLICK

FIRST

Formulary Finder

Other Resources

A National Conversation - Friends and Family First Toolkit NEW!
(PDF, 3.3 MB)

BenefitsCheckUpRX

Medicare RX: A National Conversation NEW!
View online in Windows Media OR Read the Transcript

More Medicare Spotlights...

Before you go any farther you need to know which Medicare Part D plans in your area carry the drugs that you take on a regular basis. This will SAVE you a lot of time as you move forward because you can eliminate from your consideration the plans that do not offer what you are taking. Here is what the "Formulary Finder" screen looks like.

Formulary Finder for Medicare Prescription Drug Plans

Welcome to the Formulary Finder for Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. This tool will allow you to find plans in your state that match your required drug list.

To begin, please select your state from the list, then click the Continue button.

Select your state

State:

Once the "continue button is clicked the next screen looks like this.

Please identify what drugs for which you want to find covering plans.

To add the drugs:

A.	Find the drug(s), and add them to the list.
B.	Review the drug list.
C.	Choose how you want to view plans.

Other drug search options:
Search for drugs by first letter.

Find the drugs by name

(Type the drug name here and click [Search for Drug])

Enter the name of one of the prescription drugs that you are taking regularly. For this example, I entered Prozac.

The following is the screen that is arrived at after clicking through several simple screens.

PLAN FORMULARY FINDER

Based on the drugs you selected, we are listing Medicare Part D plans in your state that have all or some of your drugs on their formulary.

The following 27 plans have all the drugs you selected on their formulary. To view detailed formulary status information for the drugs you selected, click the plan name.

Plan Name	Contract ID	Plan ID	Plan Type	# of Network Pharmacies in Your State*
AARP MedicareRx Plan	S5820	033	PDP	70
AdvantraRx Premier	S5674	069	PDP	86
AdvantraRx Premier Plus	S5674	071	PDP	86
AdvantraRx Value	S5674	068	PDP	86
Aetna Medicare Rx Essentials	S5810	068	PDP	82
Plans per page: <Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next>
* This column provides the number of participating network retail pharmacies for a particular plan by the state you selected.

Each of the names are active links when you are on the internet and clicking them leads you to table that shows the drug name or the generic (generic will be in ALL CAPS) and will look something like this:

Plan Formulary Status

Please view the formulary status for the drugs you selected for the AdvantraRx Value plan.

Drug Name	Formulary Status	Limitations/Restrictions
Drug Name	Formulary Status	Prior Authorization	Quantity Limits	Step Therapy
FLUOXETINE HCL CAP 20MG	TIER 1	NO	NO	YES

Look around at the other links on the home page of medicare.gov but if you only look at the links that I have outlined above you will have a good foundation to start looking and listening

Another good resource for Medicare Part D can be found at AARP's site: http://www.aarp.org/health/medicare/drug_coverage/medicarerx_coverage.html

INVESTIGATE. It is time to get out and attend some presentations, now that you are prepared and have specific information that you are looking for at the meetings. Remember that many of the presenters that are out making public presentations are employed by the drug companies and/or the prescription plan providers. Their main objective is to convince you that their company or their plan is the best plan for you. This does not mean that these people are not giving good information about the basics of Medicare's new Prescription Drug Program but they are going to provide the information in a way that is most beneficial to their company. It is important to ask questions about how to get help paying for their plan, how to determine whether your drug is in their plan list of provided drugs, also called their formulary, and what is the process of appealing their decisions that directly concern your use of a specific drug.

Ask Questions and go to several presentations by different companies and groups. This will help you get a better idea of all the Medicare Part D options and will help you get the plan that is best for you.

CONSOLIDATE AND CONCLUDE. You have now researched and investigated based upon your baseline information concerning your own personal situation. It is time to begin the process of narrowing your choices. Eliminate the Medicare Part D plans that you do not feel are for you today. You may be down to one plan or maybe two at this point. Make a list of any questions that you have unanswered at this point and seek out the answers. One place that may be a good source of neutral answers is the County Human Services Agency for the County in which you live. Another possibility in many areas is a telephone service, usually supported by the United Way, that might be called the senior linkage line or senior help line or first call for help, these types of services are good sources of neutral information.

One thing to remember during this enrollment period, 11/15/05 to 05/15/06, which is the inauguration of the Part D program, you can change your mind one time after you have initially enrolled. Alternatively, there is an open enrollment period at the end of all calendar years in the future to change plans. Your decision right now to enroll is NOT cast in stone.

Your hard work will have paid off and you will have very likely chosen the best plan available to you at this time.