Important things to know about Part D Prescription Drug Plans.
Medicare recently made design changes in their Medicare drug pricing tool. One of those changes was to disable the drug ID numbers we have used for more than ten years, so we no longer have your drug information saved from year to year. We do have a new way to store this information in the future with our Medicare Insurance Direct website. This will show pricing information for your drugs with various plans and store your list of drugs for future reviews. It also adds a new feature we’ve never had before: the ability for both of us to see the pricing information for your drugs at the same time, making it easier to discuss the plans available to you.Thank you for your patience as we restore all the lost information.
Here is how to get started:
- Click here to go to the Medicare drug plan pricing tool: Medicare Insurance Direct
- Scroll down and click “Create Account” to set-up your account. You will only need to do this one time and your information will be saved for future plan reviews. Spouses must set up a separate account for this to work right. When finished, click “Return to Plan Compare.” When finished, click “Return to Plan Compare.”
- Go to “Get started.”
- Go to “Help Me Choose,” then check the drug coverage box and click continue.
- Enter your drugs, then when finished click “My drug list is complete.”
- Enter the pharmacy you prefer to use, then continue.
- Here you will see the results, a list of drug plans with a total annual cost next to each, ranked by lowest annual cost for your medications. Then you have two options:
- Medicare has strict rules on the way agents are allowed to interact with Medicare beneficiaries about Medicare Advantage plans. For any face-to-face meeting where MA plans are discussed your advance written consent is required on a “Scope of Appointment” form. This form may be mailed to you, or sent to you via email with your consent. The meeting cannot take place prior to the form being returned, and cannot be signed at the time of the meeting, with a few exceptions. Agents are prohibited from cold-calling you or door-to-door soliciting you to discuss Medicare Advantage or Part D prescription drug plans.
8a. If your current plan has the lowest cost for next year or you do not want to change the plan you have, you’re done! Your plan will automatically renew with no action required.
8b. If another plan has the lowest annual cost, you may select it by clicking “Add to Cart,” then “Enroll.” Complete the online form and submit, making sure to get a confirmation number. You will receive a welcome letter and new ID card by the Jan 1 start date. You do not need to cancel your current plan, as Medicare will take care of that.
This plan finder tool will only display plans in the states we are licensed. If you need any help or have any questions, please call one of the phone numbers for the location nearest you.
