Nov 26, 2008 4:40 pm US/Pacific
Time To Re-Evaluate Medicare Part D Options
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
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Medicare participants have a whopping 60 different plans to choose from.
CBS
Many Bay Area seniors and people with disabilities depend on Medicare Part D -- the prescription drug benefit that helps them get their medication. For those individuals, the time is now to review benefits.
The enrollment period for Part D started in November 15 and continues until December 31. This is an opportunity for recipients to review their drug coverage options for the following year.
Everyone currently enrolled in Medicare is being urged to go through the process of re-evaluating their choices for 2009. That's because every year the prescription plans change the prices of the drugs they cover and may no longer include the same medicines in the next year. Choosing the right plan to ensure coverage on January 1 could even help beneficiaries save a bundle.
Matthew Ouimette is on disability and has been a Medicare recipient. Ouimette's current plan covers the cost of his expensive drugs, but he found out that starting next year it won't. He was looking at paying thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for the same medicine if he remained on his plan. At that point he asked for help from Partners in D--a group of UCSF pharmacy students who help people maneuver through the enrollment process.
"They saved me about $20,000. If I had gone with my old plan, that's what it would have cost for exactly what I was getting this year," Ouimette said.
Unfortunately, the prescription drug benefit is very complicated. Unlike most people, who get to choose from two or three prescription plans from their employers, Medicare participants have a whopping 60 different plans to choose from and the only resource available for them to use is an 800 number or a website which can be difficult to navigate.
Justine Ung, a UCSF pharmacy student working with Partners in D, said "most patients are really lost. They don't know anything about their Part D plans and they say they're concerned about paying a lot of money."
Ung enters the patient's list of drugs into the Medicare website. In a few minutes, the search comes back with a new money-saving prescription drug plan for the Part D shopper.
Ouimette's savings is the largest that Partners in D have ever seen. The average savings is about $100 when they enroll patients in new prescription plans.
"As I told the lovely ladies who helped me out, whether they knew it or not, the help they're giving people is saving lives no Ifs, Ands or Buts", Ouimette said.
For information about upcoming Medicare Part D workshops you can visit
www.partnersind.com. You can also call the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) at 1-800-434-0222 for free individual counseling about Medicare and other health issues.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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