Friendly advice on Medicare drug plans

Here’s a little friendly advice for people confronted with the task of selecting a Medicare drug plan, either for themselves or for their parents or friends.

Some drug plans require that you pay the annual deductible ($265) before they start reimbursing part of your drug cost.

When you think about it, paying this deductible is like paying $22 a month. So somebody who fills up even just one prescription every month for a non-generic drug is likely to be $22 better off, each month, with a plan which provides for a $0 deductible.

The plan with no deductible is likely to have a larger monthly premium than a corresponding plan with the deductible. But if the difference in monthly premium is appreciably less than $22, the plan with no deductible is the better deal. Right away, this can make a $26-a-month plan better than a $17.40-a-month plan — look at the deductible.

And here’s another thought.

You may have one plan (with no deductible) which charges $25.40 a month, and another which charges $26.00 a month. If you have a prescription for a so-called preferred drug that you need to fill every month (something like Fosamax, for instance), take a look at the copayment required for your prescription. If the plan with the $25.40 monthly premium has a $30 copay, and the plan with the $26.00 monthly premium has a $25 copay, then you’d be better off with the $26.00 plan because you’d save $5 on each prescription filled while paying just an extra $.60 a month in premium.

When you look up the plan comparisons on the Medicare website, your first thought might be that the lower the premium the better off you might be. If you have zero expectation of buying any prescription drug, that is indeed the way to go. But any senior with just one simple prescription for a nongeneric drug like Fosamax (used by a great many women to prevent osteoporosis) might benefit from the little analysis I suggested.

I hope some of you find this helpful.