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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 Susan Jaffe | KFF Health News | October 21, 2024

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.]
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Medicare’s Open Enrollment Is Open Season for Scammers

By Susan Jaffe  | Kaiser Health News | November 11, 2021 | This KHN story also ran in The Washington Post.

Finding the best private Medicare drug or medical insurance plan among dozens of choices is tough enough without throwing misleading sales tactics into the mix.  Yet federal officials say complaints are rising from seniors tricked into buying policies — without their consent or lured based on questionable information — that may not cover their drugs or include their doctors.

In response, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has threatened to penalize private insurance companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans if they or agents working on their behalf mislead consumers.  The agency has also revised rules making it easier for beneficiaries to escape plans they didn’t sign up for or enrolled in only to discover promised benefits didn’t exist or they couldn’t see their providers.

The problems are especially prevalent during Medicare’s open-enrollment period, which began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. A common trap begins with a phone call like the one Linda Heimer, an Iowa resident, received in October. [Full story in The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News.] 

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