Many Medicare Beneficiaries wonder if they need to join a prescription drug plan if they already have Medicare and a Medicare Supplement Policy. If you don’t use a lot of prescription drugs now, you should still consider joining. As we age, most people need prescription drugs to stay healthy.
You can join a drug plan when you are first eligible for Medicare. In most cases, if you don’t join during this period, your next chance to join will be the Annual Enrollment Period, and you will have to pay a penalty. This means you pay a higher monthly premium for as long as you have Medicare prescription drug coverage.
What Is Part D (Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage)? Medicare prescription drug coverage is run by an insurance company or other private company. The company offering the plan and the plan itself are approved by Medicare.
All must cover certain drugs and meet certain coverage criteria to be approved. However the plans can vary greatly in premium, co-pays and total out of pocket expenses. If you have original Medicare you can enroll in a stand alone Part D prescription plan along with your Medicare Supplement plan. Most Medicare Advantage plans include Medicare Part A,B and D coverage. There are some that only cover A and B and require a separate Part D.
Because of the differences between the plans it is imperative to shop the plans. One way to do this is the Medicare Plan Finder. It can be accessed right on the Medicare website www.medicare.gov. You just open the program and enter your drugs in the form and it will show you all of the available plans and what your actual overall costs will be for each plan for your particular prescriptions. You can also see how the plans rank as to quality and specifics on each plan. You can also get help finding the right plan for you at www.medicarequote4u.com.
Let us help.. You can get the up to date information you need about Medicare and a free personalized quote for Medicare Supplement Insurance at www.medicarequote4u.com. This article, Medicare Supplement Plans and Medicare Part D is released under a creative commons attribution license.
