Tag: Gina Upchurch
Medicare Drug Plans Are Getting Better Next Year. Some Will Also Cost More.
Improvements to Medicare drug coverage required by the IRA are the most sweeping changes since Congress added the benefit in 2003, but most voters don’t know about them. And some beneficiaries may be surprised by a downside: premium increases.
By
When Pam McClure learned she’d save nearly $4,000 on her prescription drugs next year, she said, “it sounded too good to be true.” She and her husband are both retired and live on a “very strict” budget in central North 
Dakota.
By the end of this year, she will have spent almost $6,000 for her medications, including a drug to control her diabetes.
McClure, 70, is one of about 3.2 million people with Medicare prescription drug insurance whose out-of-pocket medication costs will be capped at $2,000 in 2025 thanks to the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act….
“It’s wonderful — oh my gosh. We would actually be able to live,’’ McClure said. “I might be able to afford fresh fruit in the wintertime.” [Continued in KFF Health News, CBS NEWS, Los Angeles Times, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.]
…Dodging the Medicare Enrollment Deadline Can Be Costly
By , 
Angela M. Du Bois, a retired software tester in Durham, North Carolina, wasn’t looking to replace her UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan. She wasn’t concerned as the Dec. 7 deadline approached for choosing another of the privately run health insurance alternatives to original Medicare.
But then something caught her attention: When she went to her doctor last month, she learned that the doctor and the hospital where she works will not accept her insurance next year.
Faced with either finding a new doctor or finding a new plan, Du Bois said the decision was easy. “I’m sticking with her because she knows everything about me,” she said of her doctor, whom she’s been seeing for more than a decade.
Du Bois isn’t the only one tuning out when commercials about the open enrollment deadline flood the airwaves each year — even though there could be good reasons to shop around. But sifting through the offerings has become such an ordeal that few people want to repeat it. Avoidance is so rampant that only 10% of beneficiaries switched Medicare Advantage plans in 2019.
Once open enrollment ends, there are limited options for a do-over…. [Continued on Kaiser Health News and NPR]…
A Few Pointers To Help Save Money And Avoid The Strain Of Medicare Enrollment
By Susan Jaffe | Kaiser Health News | Oct. 17, 2017 | This article also ran in 
and 
Older or disabled Americans with Medicare coverage have probably 
noticed an uptick in mail solicitations from health insurance companies, which can mean only one thing: It’s time for the annual Medicare open enrollment.
Most beneficiaries have from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 to decide which of dozens of private plans offer the best drug coverage for 2018 or whether it’s better to leave traditional Medicare and get a drug and medical combo policy called Medicare Advantage.
Some tips for the novice and reminders for those who have been here before can make the process a little easier. [Continued at Kaiser Health News, USA Today and The Washington Post]
…Medicare Steps Up Efforts To Monitor Seniors’ Prescriptions
By Susan Jaffe | KAISER HEALTH NEWS | March 23, 2010
This story was produced in collaboration with
Irene Mooney survived four heart attacks and still copes with high cholesterol, persistent indigestion and heart problems. Recently, she developed some dangerous new symptoms – suspicious bruising all over her body and severe fatigue. “I could barely put one foot in front of the other,” she says. A pharmacist discovered the culprit: Some of the very medications Mooney was taking to manage her medical conditions.
The pharmacist met with Mooney, examined her 13 medications and then contacted her doctor, who cut the dosage of one drug and replaced another, reducing her risk of uncontrollable bleeding. Mooney, 82, one of the devoted card players at her seniors’ complex, soon noticed the change. “I’ve been so much better,” she says.
The help Mooney got – called “medication therapy management” – was provided by Senior PharmAssist, a Durham, N.C., non-profit group that makes sure seniors use the right prescription drugs and take them correctly to prevent harmful side effects or drug interactions.
Now, medication management is coming to nearly 7 million seniors and disabled Americans enrolled in Medicare drug plans. [Continued at Kaiser Health News and USA Today
…