Prescription drug coverage — Medicare calls it Part D — is the prescription part of Medicare. The plan that's cheapest for you depends on which prescriptions you take — and the cheapest plan changes constantly because formularies, premiums, and tiers shift every January. Our job is to re-run the math for you each fall, free, whether or not you switch.
The lowest-premium prescription drug plan is almost never the lowest total cost plan, because it usually has higher copays on common drugs. The right metric is total annual cost — premium + deductible + estimated copays based on your actual prescription list.
We use the Medicare.gov plan finder — the official tool — with your real prescription list to compute total annual cost across plans. Then we tell you which plan wins.
Every fall during the Annual Election Period (October 15 – December 7), I re-run the Plan Finder math for the Medicare clients in my book. About 1 in 3 should change plans most years — not because their care changed, but because formularies, premiums, and tiers shifted in the new contract year. The savings on the same prescriptions can run several hundred dollars annually.
If you don't enroll in prescription drug coverage (Part D) when you first sign up at 65 (and don't have other "creditable" prescription coverage like a strong employer plan), you owe a late-enrollment penalty — about 1% of the national base beneficiary premium per month delayed, added permanently to your premium. It's not enormous in dollar terms, but it's permanent. Don't skip prescription drug coverage (Part D) when you turn 65.
One quick conversation in October or November. We compare plans against your actual prescriptions and tell you whether to switch or stay put.
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