Check with each one available to you and ask them if they cover the medications you are currently on. We can't know the future, but you do know what you take now. There are differences in what the plans cover. Yes, it's time consuming, but it's worth it. Good luck, Carol
Go to www.medicare.gov, select, choose drug plan from top left yellow box, put in your zip code and answer questions on next page, then you can start putting in your current prescriptions. once done, continue to the next page, select your drug stores of choice. Go to next page, answer questions, then go to the next page. You will then be provided with plans that cover those prescriptions. You can compare premiums, deductibles, yearly costs, donut hole costs if your prescriptions will hit that. Once you select a plan, click on enroll and follow the prompts, Plans will be effective 1/1/2014. If you need help speak with 1800Medicare or a certified Medicare agent to help you.
Try giving us more information like what insurance are you on now? Do you have Medicare? Do you have a military benefit? If you have, then you do not need a plan D. Start at Medicare, if you have it.
Regarding Plan D, do not forget to ask if your medications require prior authorization. After selecting a plan, be sure to get a copy of the company's formulary (list of approved meds) to take when you go to the doctor to try to avoid noncovered or authorization required products. Many busy doctor's offices are unable to devote the time to do a "PA" on meds and those that do often find the red tape can take several days to complete. Good Luck
One of the things we've found out is, even choosing a prescription plan that has all of your meds on their formulary (which means they cost you less), is no guarantee that they will stay on there. Almost every plan we've been on has taken some meds (usually at least one of ours) off of their formulary. All you can do is pick one that you think is best, and throughout the year see how it works for you and, if you don't like it, you can change again at the end of the year. We have an insurance person, who we trust, who can sell any of the plans that are available in our area, and he is always looking for the one that is best for us. We just give him a list of our meds each year at enrollment time, and he does all of the searching and comparison for us and we go over his findings to decide which one to use. It takes a lot of stress off of us.
Annual Enrollment is 10/15 to 12/7 every year. If you lose coverage for a drug on a plan, you can get help with that. Drug companies make expections if you call them, they will tell you what you need to do. You do not need an agent to enroll in Pt D, but it helps. I don't sell plans, but I can enroll in my state seniors in Pt D, so can Medicare. If an agent sells plans, they could sway you to a plan they make money on, that is why I like to be objective, but a good agent will do the right thing by you as evidenced by Mckeech. You can change plans every year. It is good to check on new and lower cost plans every year even if you meds do not change.
We have received an exception a few times, but it was such a hassle to do and doctors just hate having to do it because sometimes they have to physically talk to the insurance company's pharmacist himself to explain and they don't want to take the time to do that. Sometimes their nurse can fill out papers and/or type a letter explaining why you need it (and they usually require that you've tried at least 2 or 3 other meds in the same category 1st), and the doctor can just sign it and that's not AS bad. You do have to be careful with agents and make sure it's someone you can trust. Ours is a Christian friend of ours and he just lays everything out on the table - how much each one pays for the meds we are on, etc, and lets us decide.
Carol