OK, DU seniors...How is the

[serryjw]

prescription drug plan now? Are you seeing any savings?

[Jane Austin]

1. I'm not old enough for Medicare, but I heartily recommend using Costco's

pharmacy.

That's a guaranteed way to save money on prescriptions. :)

[LA lady]

2. good

It is excellent for my family. Confusing to sign up but we saved a lot

[napi21]

3. I still have a year till 65, but everyone I've talked to says only the

VERY POOR really benefit. I have a cousin who is on disability. He's blind, had a pancreas transplant 5 years ago, and is on LOTs of different meds. He is a psycholgist, and tries to work part time just to survive. He pays $1,300 a month for Blue Cross/Blue Shield right now, and has checked 35 different HC plans available to him under this new Medicare Part D program. With all the caveats they have inserted "under the radar", it's still less expensive for him to continue to pay the $1,300/mo. That should answer your question!

I know if you are on welfare, it's supposed to be a good deal, but beyond that, it seems to be good...only if you're healthy!

[LA lady]

8. check again

I think you're being ill advised. My family is far from poor, all had been professionals, I have MS and my exemely expensive meds are dirt cheap.
20,000%$ a year Avonex for 36$
Can't beat it.

[napi21]

16. I can only tell you the particulars I know.

Right now, the BCBS plan he has pays 100% of all hospital bills. The copay on prescriptions are $20/$30 Generic/Name Brand, and all tests are fully covered.

Under medicare and part D there is an 80/20 on hospital bills, and tests, and a % off on all the meds, PLUS the old donut hole of $3,500. I can guarantee you, he has not only personally checked into the different available plans, but there is an elder law attorney in Pa. who volunteers his time one day a week to help people check these things out.

On a personal note, I know how this 80/20 plan works. My husband has to have a blood test every three months because of the meds he's on. Each time, it's $25 for the Dr visit, and my 20% if the tests and lab work is always $135.00. Last year, his Dr. recommended he have a colonostomy test. The 20% on that one was $1,200! Most retired people just can't afford bills like that, and the cousin I told you about has to have tests every 2-3 weeks because of the transplant, and several other health problems he has.

I only wish you were right and we were ill advised.

[Liberal Gramma]

4. We didn't sign up for it

The premiums were more than we currently pay for medication. BUT even if it was a wash, I wouldn't enroll because I am still so miffed about the way the bill was written. Here's hoping the Dems will rewrite the bill when they take over Congress in November!

[Zen Democrat]

5. My parents are saving some money now .... but there's that GAP.

After the insurance company has spent $2400 for your meds, there's NO coverage at all under the senior pays 100% for some period of time. Really screwy. And the reason for that was??????

[WinkyDink]

11. Not for Mr. Dink. PA. retired educators,(PSERS) can get a 50% Gap coverage

(for a higher monthly fee).
I'm tired of it all.
The insidious factor is: After May 15, how do you know what drugs you may or may not need?

A pox on ALL their houses.

[serryjw]

25. A crystal ball

Wait...It will get worse. Once the big pharma's determine what drugs everyone needs, they will raise the price.

[serryjw]

24. The famous 'donut hole'

Congress believed most seniors would fall into that category and couldn't afford to cover them to that extent(Bushit's bushit!).They wanted to do 'something' to make it a non issue in 2004 election.

[karlrschneider]

6. I'm not quite yet eligible, but my brother is a pharmacist (7 yrs

younger than me) and he thinks the whole thing is a clusterfuck...he'd like to retire but has triplets in college - I guess they're sophs now so he's kinda stuck for a while yet. ;-(

[goddess40]

7. Would be bad for me

Goddess40's mom here. Thank heavens, as a retired state employee, I get great prescription coverage. I pay deductables until I reach $300, then it's pretty much a free ride. If I had to use the Medicare coverage it would cost me close to $4000/year. $370 for annual premium, about $2500 for the donut hole and then the various copays. I'm missing something here as when I figured it out using the Medicare guidelines I came up with the $4000 cost.

[serryjw]

10. You use many meds?

so you have to hop over the donut hole for additional coverage if you didn't have state coverage?

[Mugsy]

9. I save more via Internet Pharmacy.

I buy all my medication via "Pharmacy.com".

I looked into Medicare's PDP, and quickly found myself neck deep in "The Goldilocks Syndrome" ("this provider offers lower co-pays and no premiums, but doesn't carry every drug I use", this provers has all my drugs, but the price is too high"... etc).

I'm a professional degreed computer programmer, yet I found the array of plans to choose from so complicated, I'd on needed to write a computer program just to figure out what saved me the most.

In the end, I'm probably spending the same or less just buying my prescriptions in bulk off the Internet... and with far less hassle.

[roguevalley]

12. it sucks so bad, I could cry.

[serryjw]

17. While out petitioning I see

so mnay REALLY elderly people ( 80's plus) that are obviously very sickly. I wonder if anyone has talked to them? What happens to the people that are in HUD housing, long term senior housing? Does any one talk to them?

does nay one know how many seniors SHOULD qualify for part D? *, on his weekly radio address, said that 30 million seniors have signed up??

[petersjo02]

13. We're not signing up

We use drugstore.com and the "Mexico plan." Go shopping there when we spend winter in AZ. Last time we went there, saved about 60% over what we'd pay here in Iowa. All drugs we bought there have worked perfectly, but you have to watch your wallet (if it's in your back pocket) and be careful which pharmacy you choose. Also check boxes to be sure they actually have pills in them.

[POAS]

14. Bottom line i get from this discussion is

that Plan D is NOT a panacea and the caveat "buyer beware" applies.

[grilled onions]

15. Too Many If's

Between my husband on S.S. and me on Disability all the programs seem part of a bad shell game. Every time you think one plan looks decent there is another catch. If you tend to change meds and have no access to a reliable crystal ball we find we are better off with an internet plan and take our chances over the threat of what will happen if we don't sign up by May 15th!

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

18. I'm on medicare not due to age. I have made a tentative

selection of a plan, but will probably wait till very close to the last possible moment (May 15).

It's sorta sickening to have to deal with, knowing that the bill that created it is really the pharmaceutical support and welfare bill.

And for some reason, some reason that escapes me at the moment :sarcasm: , I don't trust the current guv'ment.

(And I do buy everything possible at Costco)

[UTUSN]

19. Somebody asked me to help them enroll -- MADNESS!

I went to the medicare.gov website. There was a map --choose a state, fine. Then choose a county --fine. So there were three companies listed, each listed twice with different plans. I checked with somebody who had already been signed up and they had a company NOT LISTED for the county. I called the 800-MEDICARE. They said that, yes, there are many companies NOT LISTED at the website, that the 800-MEDICARE people have a "deeper tool" for finding other companies. I asked how we were supposed to make choices if we didn't know all the choices that are available. Laughter. She said I needed to look at each individual company and compare the plans. I said I see deductible-here/co-pay-there and it doesn't make sense to me. She said to call back when I was ready to sign up.

It seems to me that this thing, just on the surface, is a BOON to medical companies --what's the word, for excessive/unexpected profits... ---------WINDFALL!!!!!

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

21. I asked around to see what others were doing. I talked to my

Costco pharmacist.

He suggested going to the medicare.gov web site and input all my medications. For where I live, there are quite a lot of plans, and they are listed in order of least to greatest expected monthly cost.

You can "save your work" and get an ID and password so you can come back and continue.

There is a nasty thing for some plans, at least it seems so to me.

They give you the expected monthly cost for the first $2250 of Prescription costs. Then from $2250 to something like $3750 out of out of pocket expense you get a different, in some cases VERY different estimated monthly cost. Then once you get to over $3750 out of out of pocket expense it changes again.

I tried to avoid the plans like that. The ones I looked at had 5 times the monthly cost between the $2250 and 3750, that they had for up to $2250.

[kineneb]

20. Medicaid recipients are automatically assigned a plan

We just got the info for Hubby on Friday. He is a Medicare/Medicaid recipient (for dialysis & diabetes), so Medi-Cal assigned him a plan. We got the bill for it the same day- amusing, since the letter from Medicaid says that they pick up the premium. I am going to copy the letter and bill, and send them back to the company. Damned if I am paying $95 for what we were getting for free. And no, we could not really afford it anyway.

The "donut hole" worries me; we have no extra funds to pay that amount ($1100) before the next part of the coverage kicks in. I hope there is a waiver for the poor, otherwise we are screwed.

[Roon]

22. I am disabled

I was forced to join the presription plan and I went to having NO copay a month to having 55.00 copay a month. It really fucked me up! :-(

[juajen]

23. Too early to tell yet,

but we think it will help. We take a minimum of drugs and all are generic, except for Plavix. We might be eligible for premium help, also. My hubbie's first buy will be on Monday. His Plavix is supposed to be $5. He has been getting samples and free drugs from the manufacturer, so this is actually more than we have been paying for Plavix; but, the cost is certainly reasonable.

As Rummy would say, "We know there are unknowns, and the knows we know are unknowns, and we know that the knows we know are unknowns, so, basically, everything is unknown," or something to that effect. God, that phrase is probably the best thing we have gotten from Rummy in five years.