Senior citizens may feel like they are being nickle-and-dimed each year on the cost of their prescription drugs.
The alternative is to shop around for a different Medicare Part D plan.
Information on prices and plans for 2010 for prescription drug coverage is available and premiums are going up an average of 11 percent for people enrolled in stand-alone drug plans. Medicare Advantage plans were not included in an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The average premium this year is $35.09 a month, and that will go up to $38.85 a month in 2010, according to an analysis.
As many as 1.2 million Americans will see their premiums increase unless they switch to a different plan for next year. Open enrollment begins Nov. 15 and ends Dec. 31.
Seminars to help Medicare beneficiaries do plan comparisons are being scheduled by Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders, or SHINE.
“That’s why SHINE is here, to assist people to understand what their options are,” said Pam Fico, a SHINE liaison with the Area Agency on Aging in Southwest Florida. “And there are still those out there who might qualify for the low-income subsidy and they are not aware of that.”
One of the more popular plans, Humana PDP Enhanced, will see a premium increase of 8 percent next year, from $38.21 to $41.19. Seniors enrolled in the AARP MedicareRx Saver, sponsored by UnitedHealthcare, will see their premiums jump 7 percent from $28.69 to $30.70.
“The pricing of prescription drug plans is determined every year by the trends in drug pricing and the number and types of drugs purchased by the members within a plan,” said UnitedHealthcare spokesman Jon Stone. “Each year, UnitedHealthcare analyzes these categories and appropriately adjusts the pricing of our plans. UnitedHealthcare continues to maintain a focus on our membership having access to a broad list of Part D covered drugs while encouraging our members to maximize the value of their plan through use of lower-cost options.
Similar to what happened in prior years, some low-income seniors who receive the subsidy will have to switch plans or let the federal government make the selection for them. That’s because the premiums in their current plans are going up next year and are not below a benchmark rate in the state to qualify as plans for the low income.
For the first time since the Medicare Part D program began in 2006, more than the majority of plans, 61 percent, will require enrollees to meet a deductible before drug coverage begins, according to Kaiser.
In addition, there are fewer plans than last year that have coverage gap, known as the “doughnut hole,” where seniors must pay for their entire prescription bill. Enrollees reach the doughnut hole when total out-of-pocket drug spending, which includes what the plan has paid, reaches $2,830 and they stay in the coverage gap until the amount spent reaches $4,550. After that, catastrophic coverage begins.
Facing a deductible before coverage kicks in may be the most irksome to seniors who didn’t have a deductible before, said Juliette Cubanski, one of the Kaiser analysts.
Despite that, she said seniors overall say they are happy with their plans and most don’t switch from year to year, she said.
“I think the trend in the Part D market overall are not as dramatic as we have seen in previous years,” she said. “There’s no reason for alarm. There are still lots of choices in the market and lots of opportunity to look for cheaper alternatives.”
But the message to seniors is the same as in prior years, and that is to take a look at what medications they are taking and look at some alternative plans for price comparisons.